Author. 



***<>* 




—~i~U-i-.- 

.321. 



Title 



Imprint. 



10--47372-2 < 



THEO-SCIENTIUM 



IOHN M K\ 



CONTENTS 

Page 

The 5olar Throne, .... 4 

The Solar hell, - I 25 

The Problem of Creation, - - 36 

Contraction of the Solar System, - 48 

The Origin of Man, - ' 

The Fall of Man, -» I 68 

The Redemption, . - 74 

I he Seven A^e> 81 
Illustrations 



THEO-SCIENTIUM 

or 

Introductory Extracts 

To "The Seven Ages of Creation" 



by 
JOHN M. RUSSELL. 



Dedicated to lovers of learning, and to all who love to 
linger late and early at wisdom's gate. 



1902 

EAGLE PUBLISHING CO 

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 

<t|^s|39|^> GBB 



|IUkLI8IUIV0l 

CONGRESS, 
COPY B, 



Copyright A. D. 1902, 

By 

John M. Russell. 



■&)* 01 
^ 



AETICLE I. 
The Solar Throne 

4-nd I saw a great wonder in Heaven : a woman clothed 
with the sun, and the moon under her feet/ (Kev. 

xii:l.) 
INSPIKED TESTIMONY. Pondering on the 

words of the above passage of Holy Writ, and a few others, 
of like signification, we became struck with the thought 
that the interior of the Sun is the Heaven of the solar sys- 
tem. The 'Woman' therein symbolizing the earth's tri- 
umphant Blessed standing on high, and all as it were, 
united into one great being, a 'wonder/ the destined 'Bride 
of the Lamb/ And, behold, here we find her in the Sun. 
This is a vision of immediately after the 'end of time/ as re- 
lated in the preceding chapter. But in the second verse of 
this vision, the scene instantly reverts back to the time 
of the birth of Christ; and, likewise, from Heaven back 
to earth. 

This brief extract of sacred Scripture is exuberantly 
illustrative and suggestive that the sun is really the solar 
Empyrean. But we have still other evidence from the pen 
of the same sacred writer, seemingly no less conclusive, such 
as: 'And I saw an Angel standing in the sun (xix:17). 
and speaking of the yet far-off time of our planet' s disso- 
lution in the future, the Patmosian prophet declares : 'And 



4 INTRODUCTION 

/ saw a great white throne and Him that sat thereon from 
whose presence the earth and Heaven fled away' (xix:ll). 
The great white Throne here seen in the vision of the future 
undoubtedly is the Sun. But the 'Heaven' mentioned in 
this quotation means the terrestrial firmament 
(See Gen. i:8). But perhaps the most direct passage 
pointing to this fact is found in Psalm (xviii:6-7) where 
it says : 'He hath set his tabernacle in the sun : and he as a 
bridegroom coming out of his bridechamber hath rejoiced as 
i giant to run the way. His going out is from the end of 
Heaven, and his circuit even to the end thereof.'* 

It is inferable from the twenty-first chapter of the Kev- 
elation of St. John,, that the sun is an immense shell of 
gold, the interior of which is composed of 'clear gold, like 
transparent glass/ as it were, having the appearance of 'a 
sea of glass mingled with fire/ And that the celestial vault 
is on all sides around, studded with cities of gold and of 
precious stone and pearl, and with Merusalems' and Zions 
of most gorgeous and magnificent display. The 'New Jer- 
usalem' described in that chapter being one of the many 
cities of the sun, the one destined to receive terrestrial sal- 
vation. Over all, then, and out-glorying all else, the inter- 
ior Throne of Eternity's Monarch ! 

Indeed, the Scripture abounds in many rather illus- 
trative passages presaging this same idea as, 'My dwelling 
place is in the Heaven of Heavens/ 'As far as Heaven is 
above the earth, so my ways are above thy ways; 'My throne 
is above all thrones/ 'Our strength is in the name of the 
Lord who made Heaven and earth/ 'Thou art a hidden 

*This pas *age is not quite the same in all translations, and 
in some versions the same Psalm is number xix. 



THE SEVEN AGES 5 

God, the God of Israel;' 'The Heaven of Heavens are His 
dwelling place, but the earth He gave to the children of 
men/ 'All is vanity under the sun/ etc.; which passages 
also go to show that the residence of the Deity, the dwell- 
ing place of the sovereign God, the throne of infinite Ma- 
jesty, is somewhere far removed from this world of ours, 
somewhere raised far above this lower world, and that the 
same is a place of surpassing splendor, and besides all this 
that it is a real, distinct place, a separate world in itself, 
and standing apart from all other worlds. And there, 
the Lord ordained it, that the brightness of His Throne 
should furnish light and day to the outer circling worlds. 

WELL, SO MUCH FOE EEVEALED INTELLI- 
GENCE. NOW FOR SCIENCE; scientific informa- 
tion, and let us see how the two harmonize. Although there 
is nothing in astronomy directly declaring the sun to be 
a heaven, yet the idea is at least very deducible from many 
stated facts. In starting out we must of course admit that, 
outside of the Scripture, the proposition cannot be proved 
by any rule of mathematical calculation, nor logic, nor by 
ocular demonstration ; data can be gleaned only by inference 
from appearance, size, position, relation, motion, import- 
ance, etc., of the cosmic body. But even the same is true with 
respect to all scientific discoveries. And especially in deal- 
ing with this hidden question, science at best can give us 
only 'circumstantial evidence/ * 

But circumstantial evidence is sometimes very strong, 
such as cannot be overthrown. Astronomers tell us that the 



*The solar system consists of the sun at the center, and eight 
or nine planets revolving around that center in orbits at varying 
distances therefrom. 



6 INTRODUCTION" 

sun is the only self-luminous body in the solar system; 
certainly a fitting characteristic for the throne of a Deity. 
The moon and planets all shine only by reflected light, the 
light of his eminence, the Sun. They tell us that the sun is 
the only stationary body in the solar system ; all the others 
revolve and rotate around this glowing center. Yes, they 
inform us that the sun is the great central body of the 
system,, that all the other members are merely eccentric 
wanderers. This dignified position and commanding loca- 
tion are not unseeming prerogatives of an Omnipotent See. 
It is the sun that governs the order and controls the mo- 
tion of all the other members ; the standpoint of the 'com- 
mander-in-chief of the cosmic forces. The qualities and 
properties of supremacy and royalty are everywhere 
stamped in unfading characters on this awful central orb ; 
the soloris firma, the root and stock, the pre-existent base 
and firm foundation of the solar system. The prerogatives 
of ponderance, appearance, magnitude and power are here 
monopolized in this all-controlling, all-beholding member. 
This great, reposing, recumbent, luminous body possesseth 
not unbecoming qualities of uranian dignity, not to speak 
of the prolific omnipresence of its nature, or the exuber- 
ance of its creative capacity, or the all-seeing intelligence 
of Heaven's 'eye/ 

Astronomers assure us that the sun is by far the largest 
member of the solar system. All the other revolving 
spheres are as nothing in comparison to the incomparable 
magnitude of the mighty central globe. The sun is com- 
puted to be about 1,300,000 times as large as the earth. In- 
deed, that body is 674 times as large as all the other mem- 



THE SEVEN AGES 1 

bers of the solar system together. But the high Heaven 
appears small to our eyes. Why ? Because of the distance. If 
the sun were as near the earth as the moon it would cover 
three-fourths of the whole sky. The sun is the greatest of 
orbs, why not the greatest of worlds? It would require a 
chain of one hundred earths side by side to reach across 
the sun's interior from one side to the other. It is said, if 
the earth were placed at the sun's center, there would not 
only be room for the moon to revolve in its present orbit 
about the earth, but the sides of the sun would stretch out 
in every direction to a distance of 200,000 miles beyond. 
The area of the surface of that celestial world would ex- 
ceed the surface of the earth by 12,000 times, or it would 
require 12,000 globes the size of the earth (and that in- 
cluding land and water) to furnish the same surface area, 
or world-room, as that of the sun. The proportionate size 
which the earth bears to the sun is very nearly the same as 
that of a pea to a globe two feet in diameter. If the earth 
were laid in the sun, it would bear about the same propor- 
tion to the vast concave as a marble in a parlor. 
And if all the planets were consolidated into a single 
body, that would set in the sun like a school globe in a 
large room. It is an astonishing fact that this Orbus Mag- 
nus is but little less than the entire solar system in itself ! 
The sun illuminates the whole solar system, and even at 
this distance, 91,500,000 miles away, we scarce dare look 
upon his majesty for brightness. Think not the sun too 
small for a Heaven, nor that most awful, lofty, sacred 
sphere deficiency in lustre for a solar Throne. 



8 INTRODUCTION" 

All the other members of the system are dark, opaque, 
little bodies to this. Who will think after a moment's con- 
sideration that this body, nearly 700 times as large as all 
the rest together, was made for the single purpose of giv- 
ing light and heat to the planets, and that the sun is other- 
wise a vast desolate fireball? What a lack of purpose, a 
deficiency of design on the part of an all-wise Providence, 
that he would not appropriate this mightiest creation to 
some further and better use. Surely an Alfonso would 
here cry out, as he did in disgust over the unmethodic, 
cumbersome Ptolemaic theory: If I had been consulted 
at the creation, I could have done a better job than that/ 
Every or any likly reason which can be adduced on the ques- 
tion goes to support the proposition of the sun being the 
Throne and Heaven of the solar system. Yes, it is appar- 
ent, convincing, irrestible, the doctrine that this vast, 
reposing central sphere should be the Heaven, the em- 
pyrean of the system of the sun. From both science and 
theology this conclusion must be drawn. 

CONCLUSION. This is not a system of 'fire wor- 
ship' nor 'sun worship/ but it is a theory expounding the 
mystery of the Sun; neither is it a new religion; but it is 
a new beam or buttress in support of that oldest, hopeful- 
est, holiest creed, the creed of an everlasting Heaven; a 
place of endless joy; another and glorious world hereafter; 
and that this lowly life of ours is deemed pregnant with 
eternal value of daily increasing worth, in pursuance of 
the great things that are to be. Being architects of our 
own destiny, we may build an infinite fortune from day to 
day, as the tide of time rolls on and eternity draws nigh, 



THE SEVEN AGES 9 

when the just shall rise like the morning to the Palace 
of the Lord most High. It cannot be regarded heretical 
or heterodoxical since the same is grounded on several clear, 
direct and corroborating passages of Holy Scripture. We 
are merely looking into the final purpose and deeper func- 
tion in the Providential design of the solar Creation. Such 
might be called an inquiry into the esoteric nature and pur- 
pose of the creation of the sun. It is a looking upward into 
that source of all brightness for a better world than this. 
It is, perhaps, the oldest idea in religion that there exists 
somewhere an eternal Heaven, but it is a new piece of dis- 
covery to point out and definitely locate the exact place of 
that blissful abode. For 6,000 years this problem has puz- 
zled the world's brain. We lay claim to the distinction, 
however underserving we may be, for standing on the 
shoulders of these giants* we have been raised to see afar. 

As Copernicus discerned the fact that the planets re- 
volve about the sun ; as Columbus understood the practica- 
bility of of the earth's rotundity, and who was sometimes 
persecuted t; and as Galileo devolved the rotary motion of 

*Standin<g on the shoulders of giants. This allusion is taken 
from Newton's expression that in his discovery of the 'attraction 
of gravitation' he was merely standing on the shoulders of his 
predecessors who had made other discoveries by aid of which he 
himself was enabled to succeed. 

tit is a notable fact, and not underserving of some com- 
ment here, that new truths and findings are often, at first, re- 
ceived by the world with the spirit of repugnance. It has been 
truly said that 'truth is to-day abhorred and to-morrow adored.' 
Admitting that it is the duty of authorized custodians and war- 
dens of the various knowledges, both sacred and secular, to guard 
against the invasions of error and heresy with a paternal and 
jealous care; yet these 'watchmen' should, however, keep re- 
minded that, although falsehood and deception are ever liable to 



10 INTRODUCTION 

our planet, and for which he was much derided as a vision- 
ary fellow; so we flatter ourselves that we have found the 
Heaven! Yes, found the Empyrean, or the highest 
Heaven, or rather discerned the location of the place there- 
of. Confidently trusting that many friends who have gone 
before us all have found the place first ; and to them we re- 
linquish, for the present, all claim on the sacred territory 
by right of conquest or earliest discovery; but we cannot 
see how it can be other than a most laudable task for any- 
one living to search for the happy place. A hopeful intel- 
ligence, this story of the sun, bright news, though we cannot 
yet see the seraphim nor cherubim, nor hear the golden 
harps. 

POPULAR IDEAS ABOUT HEAVEN. If the 

question were asked : Where is Heaven ? What kind of a 
place is Heaven? the world's answer would be various. 
Some would tell us that Heaven is up, somewhere up. Some 
would say, Heaven is everywhere. Others would declare 

creep in, there are yet many vital truths of which we do not 
know; and though much is known, there is much to be known. 

This wonderful being called 'man' with unfinished touch of 
God-like power and appearance is virtually a new beginner in the 
rank and file of creation's being, comparatively a stranger, a new- 
comer on the planet, with his 'whence and whither' as yet, to him, 
but faint and darkly known. Hence it is, that we, as human 
beings, naturally and of legitimate right, inquire into these 
things. It therefore behooves us to at least refrain from that 
class of pseudo-philanthropists and quasi-conservators, and which 
the divine Master ,himself, so indignantly denounced as those: 
'Who would lock up the store-house of learning and will neither 
enter themselves nor permit anyone else to enter.' Besides, no- 
tice how He sternly reprehended the Doctors of the Law for not 
understanding better the prophecies concerning Himself, which 
culpable ignorance deluded them from knowing who the Messiah 
was. 



THE SEVEN AGES 11 

that Heaven is all around us. Others again would assure 
us that 'the kingdom of Heaven is within you/ Still oth- 
ers would inform us that Heaven is where God and his 
angels and his saints dwell. But any of these traditional 
ideas does not vouch for the Throne of the Deity, nor for a 
distinct world and residence of the blest, such as the Script- 
ures everywhere describe, nor for a real substantial dwell- 
ing place. These assertions are kind of vague and mythical, 
and like many suppose God to be an immaterial, insubstan- 
tial Being, they believe his abode and resting place to be 
likewise. These ideas are generally the outcome of misap- 
prehensions and misconstructions of certain Scriptural 
passages. Of course they are true to a limited extent, but, 
after all, very unintelligible. 

Heaven is up. Well, up is never the same any two 
seconds. Perhaps this view is founded on the first chapter of 
Genesis, which says : 'God declared the firmament Heaven/ 
Which latter also accounts, in a manner, for Heaven to be 
in the lofty, cerulean azure, surrounding the globe, for the 
firmament is the temporal Heaven of the earth. Heaven 
is everywhere. — This notion of Heaven is probably an out- 
come of the pantheistic idea that God and nature are one 
the same. And though the kingdom (spirit) of God be 
within his servants, yet this definition very narrowly ac- 
counts for the Throne of an omnipotent Majesty. Prob- 
ably the idea of a solar Heaven was never before brought 
squarely up before the world, and will, at first, be received 
with some feelings of repellancy, and that because the sun 
is commonly reprehended as being nothing more than a 
huge globe of fire and burning metal, and a Heaven should 
be looked for in a more serene and cooler place. Though 



12 INTRODUCTION 

most people consider the earth to be a solid body, yet if 
asked their belief concerning the location of the bottomless 
pit, they most assuredly would say, Within the earth. Well 
then, we must consider the earth to be empty, and if the 
earth be an hollow globe, why not the sun ? And for that 
the heat all radiates off into space, the interior surface re- 
mains refreshing and cool. 

DISTANCE. Astronomers agree in saying that 
the mean distance of the sun is 91,500,000 miles from the 
earth. Here is a scope of measurement which no human 
mind can hope to span, and the imagination palls before 
the amazing magnitude of that cosmic fabric called the solar 
system. And yet the distance of 91,000,000 miles is simply 
used as a foot-rule in computing the distances of the fixed 
stars, or the stars outside and beyond the planets. 'Suppose 
a railroad could be built to the sun. An express train, trav- 
eling day and night, at the rate of thirty miles an hour, 
would require 341 years to reach its destination. Ten gen- 
erations would be born and would die; the young men 
would become gray-haired; their great-grandchildren would 
forget the story of the beginning of that wonderful journey, 
and could find it only in history, as we now read of Queen 
Elizabeth or of Shakespeare; the eleventh generation 
would see the solar depot at the end of the route/ — Steele. 
Behold, is not this the great fixed chaos betwixt Heaven 
and earth, as mentioned in the Gospel, where Abraham, 
speaking to Dives, said: 'And besides all this, between lis 
and you there is fixed a great chaos : so that they who would 
pass from hence to you cannot, nor from thence come hith- 
er/ (Luke xvi:26.) By the Almighty's power alone can 
this gulf be spanned. Yet our prayers, too, may span this 



THE SEVEN AGES 13 

blank abyss, carried by angel's hand. Then, with the 
psalmist, let us break : Out of the depths we cry unto Thee 
Lord, Lord hear our voice from these far distant low- 
lands of time. 

VEEBAL INDICATIONS. The propriety and 
adaptation of this proposition of a solar Heaven is verified 
in Scripture which everywhere uses the phrase, in Heaven, 
not at Heaven, nor on Heaven; showing beyond the iota 
of a doubt that Heaven is a place within. 'I saw a throne 
set in Heaven;' 'I saw a great wonder in Heaven;' 'and I 
saw another sign in Heaven ;' 'and I saw the holy city com- 
ing down out of Heaven;' 'Our Father who art in Heav- 
en ;' c and I saw Heaven opened/ etc. 

Heaven must therefore be an inclosure somewhere, sub- 
stantially impaled on all sides round; an interior habita- 
tion within some mighty swelling dome. The primative 
position of dwelling is on the bare outside of a world, the 
rudimentary form of life (organic) inhabits the convex 
sides of a planet, and where the view commands but little 
compass. But that final, electic and perfect position of 
everlasting residence is ever a world within, and that 
within a sphere. There the length and breadth of the en- 
chanting zones and regions are always in full view and 
visible to all. The latitude and longitude of the hemis- 
pheres Empyrean are, far and near, in constant sight. Be- 
sides, such is the only possible formation into which a world 
could well be made in order to adequately accomodate an 
Omnipotent throne. Internally and not externally is the 
place for a God to dwell ; eternal bliss hidden and bounded 
by unfailing protection and security around about, above 
and beneath. The worlds of time are without, but eternity's 



14 INTRODUCTION 

world is within. 0, a great 'wall' is the auriferous zones 
surrounding the paradise of God, wherein are crystal cities 
and princedoms and kingdoms and zions and seats of solar 
regents. 

The interior surface of the sun is a most magnificent 
concave wall of gold, refrangible, transparent, and of the 
deepest hues and colors, or as the Scripture describes it: 
'Like a sea of glass mingled with fire ;'* and more ornate 
than the rainbow or the liveliest flowers that ever bloomed. 
Nor can any mind of man picture a Heaven so beautiful, 
or what mortal could deem a place so lovely, so heavenly, 
a paradise so fair ? Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor 
hath it entered into the heart of any human being, the 
beauty of that place. And then, centerward, and high over 
all, the throne of Him of Eternity, whose rarest brightness 
enlightens the circumambient vasts. God is the 'sun' of 
Heaven and lights the solar kingdom, as it were, by the re- 
fulgence of his beauty. It is almost incredible to us that 
any being, even a God, should be so glorious, so bright 
(whose beauty is awful to behold, whose power is dreadful 
to behold) like the smoke of the beams of the majesty of 
creation's immutable Chief, whom thunder-clouds of glory 
summer about His head; the imperturbable God of gods! 
As it is written: 'And from the throne there proceeded 
lightnings and voices and thunderings! Yet, after all, no 
man is able to conceive a true idea of the appearance and 
greatness of God, except that His power, in a measure, is 

*This appearance of mingled fire does not come from the fire 
on the sun's outside surface, such is the color right in the con- 
stituent gold. 



THE SEVEN AGES 15 

seen in His works, an estimate of His power in the magni- 
tude of His works. 

HEAVEN'S DOOBWAY. The question may be 

said to here intuitively arise : What is the manner of en- 
trance into Paradise? How can anyone get into the sun? 
Well, the answer is easy enough since this is also described 
in Kevelation. There is a door leading into Heaven; a 
great door or rather a door of doors. This door may be 
opened so as to let in a man or it might be opened so as to 
let in a great angel ; yes, or a city. The prophet said : 'Af- 
ter these things I saw; and behold a door opened in Heav- 
en (iv:i). And in another place in the same mystic book 
we find : 'Behold I have given to thee a door opened which 
no man can shut' (iii:8). Here the appointed Keeper 
holds the keys which lock and unlock the door of Heaven's 
threshold.* 

NATUEE'S ASSERTIONS. A hero-worshipper 
has disserted that a full-grown man who, for instance, had 
never in his life seen the sun, would upon the dint of the 

*Inferably, Heaven's door is placed at the region of the celes- 
tial pole, or poles, where the temperature on the outside is lowest, 
perhaps utterly cool. For according to the theory of vortical pres- 
sure (as explained later on) the temperatures of all great spheres 
is ever greatest at the equatorial zone and least at the poles. Be- 
sides, the Psalm states that the Lord's 'going out is from the end 
of Heaven.' Even so it is, in a manner, with the earth's struct- 
ural formation. The entrance or entrances into the infernal re- 
gions of the bottomless pit must be at the terrestrial poles. Here, 
there undoubtedly exists a cosmic vacuity, at least open a great 
way in, which condition is the result of an almost total lack of 
cosmic pressure and concretion (leaving the gates of Tartarus 
in part ajar), and which chaotic ends of the geogony and the 
wardens there, are ever secluded from the gaze of man. Nor can 
the ends of the Solar be descried from this, our terrestrial obser- 
vatory, nor the prospects of the Gates. 



16 INTKODUCTION 

impulse, kneel down and worship that body on beholding 
his first sunrise, and bow his head in meditation and prayer. 
This, because of the inspiration of the imposing spectacle; 
because of the transcendent appearance of the object; for 
the sun is not only an emblem of the living throne, but it 
is the real thing, an emblem of the imperial power and 
majesty of the Lord, for that bright sphere is the world of 
God. 

Of all things visible the sun has a most celestial ap- 
pearance; indeed, as if enshrining the hidden glory; as if 
the streaming radii of the super-brilliant disc were wont to 
emanate from the hidden power ; for the exterior splendor 
is but an emblem of the interior resplendence, and of the 
plentitude of the living Paradise. The rising sun is the 
stamp and image of unfailing life and immortal youth, and 
reneweth the face of nature every morn, and remindeth 
no less than of that place from whence all blessings flow, 
as if Heaven's bounteous flood of love would yet more than 
requite its due. Verily hath the Almighty 'set His taber- 
nacle in the sun/ In the rising pomp thereof is attested 
an objective symbol of the living sanctuary ; and in the ex- 
altation of the meridian sun, the overpowering fervor of 
the great throne; and in the setting thereof a 'still small 
voice' from the Ark of the Eternal Testament. The glory 
of the solar Sovereign is emblazoned on His flaming throne, 
and His power in the conflagrations thereof. Lo, the most 
conspicuous of all things, the largest of all things, the 
brightest of all things, such that we scarce durst look upon 
the throne for its brilliancy and the deluge of its reful- 
gence ! 



THE SEVEN AGES 17 

Why account it strange that Heaven should illumine 
the transparent depths and give birth and light to the 
worlds abroad ? What wonder that the Heaven of the solar 
system should be the throne of God ? Truly the blessings 
of the pleasant sunshine are second only to the grace of 
God. No sooner does that orb depart at eve than darkness 
comes on and coldness comes on, twin sisters of death. It 
is the radience of the Lord's bright House that makes our 
humble dwelling beautiful and glad; it is the brightness 
of the day-star which makes our lowly planet grand, when 
Heaven and earth are full of glory. And every sea and 
every land and every stream and every hill and every thing 
on which the sun shines, reflects a silent paean : 'Lo the ex- 
haustless fount, the illimitable light, the light of Heaven !' 
All beauty is owing to the sunlight. The picture 
on the canvas, the landscape, the brilliant plumes 
of the birds and color of the flowers, the tints of the rain- 
bow, the crimson-streaked clouds are naught else than 
the miracles of sunlight painting nature, messages of 
beauty from Heaven, such as inspired the poet, the artist, 
the philanthropist to light their votive lamps with a spark 
from the living Flame, and taught all mortals to lift their 
eyes and look upward. 

Undoubtedly Milton more than half believed this when 
he wrote his famous apostrophe to light : 'Hail holy light, 
offspring of Heaven first-born, or of the eternal, co-eternal 
beam, may we express thee unblamed? Or, hearest rather 
thou, pure ethereal stream of whose fountain who can tell V 

And Ossian, when he sang: 'Whence thy beams, 
sun?' 



18 INTRODUCTION 

Lastly, permit us to offer as our humble tribute : Hail 
distant Throne, whose brightness lends the day ! Hail ra- 
diant Orb, whose luster leads the way ! 'Lead kindly Heav- 
enly light/ that, one day, we the glory of thy inmost Shrine 
may see. 

Who would not seek Heaven in the most glorious place, 
and what place is so glorious as the harbinger of the morn- 
ing? Creation's most elaborate work, this, nor could a 
solar Architect wisely afford to keep the apartment vacant. 
In characters unfading, the sun declares itself to be the 
Heaven. Who will say the gracious sunshine is not Heav- 
en's own gift ? How frequently we hear the remark : 'The 
sun is like Heaven this morning?' Common sense in- 
tuitively reveals it. Here again may we safely infer the 
reality, for such things really are what they seem to be. 
How we love those blessed beams, so near and yet so far, 
like streams of dissolving gold-dust strewn gratis through 
the void ! The natural appearance of the sun speaks vol- 
umes, and in silent proclamation betokens its royalty. No 
dubious Heaven this, nor pageant world. That very, very 
common thing, the sun, know we not that is the Paradise, 
the Paradise of fadeless renown? Revelation declares it, 
Science proclaims it, and all nature asserts in solemn tones 
that the Lamp of day is the Shrine of the Most High ! 

INDUCTIVE REASONINGS. Perhaps, in the 
chain of argument there can be nothing stronger or more 
pertinent offered on the projected doctrine of solar 
empyreanism than the inductive theory of solar con- 
traction, or the focal concentralization of the solar 
system. And although observation, so far, seems 



THE SEVEN AGES 19 

to fail to answer the theory, it is nevertheless 
deducive from universal analogy that the solar system is 
ever consolidating itself in the body of the sun. Wher- 
ever liquids or fluids tend to seek a center, a rotary motion 
of the converging volume is at once inaugurated. Even so 
with the solar system, the rotary is established, which again 
evinces the counter fact that the center is being sought. For 
the solar system is involved amid a mighty whirlpool of 
space, an universal vortex, and which vortex is itself much 
vaster than the visible, material system, which latter is set 
within the vortex with the sun at the center or 'eye' of the 
vortex. * 

Now, the solar system, taken as a whole, is but a 
cosmic Integer, a distinct section of the universe, in itself, 
with its own vortex, members and bodies, with its own tem- 
porary worlds and its own eternal world. We behold here 
a separately organized creation, a detached universal one- 
ness. But the sun, besides being the omnific member, is 
also the eternal member, the first and the last, whose age 
is incomputably greater than that of any other member 
of the entire system.f For the planets are — notwithstand- 
ing all protests to the contrary — mere temporary or trib- 
utary bodies, created and forever being created in the outer 
depths of the solar vortex, and by that vortex borne and 

*The controlling, solar Sphere might well be metaphorized as 
the cosmic Heart reposing in the bosom of Chaos, the day and 
night of whose pulsations vibrate through the solar Deep. 

fThe age of the sun might be vaguely said to consist of seven 
Arch-«ons of solar duration, corresponding to as many united 
Dynasties of the living Throne and to the 'seven Spirits of God.' 
But these are mighty Epochs, such as could not be reckoned by 
years. 



20 INTRODUCTION 

carried downward during the vast, cosmic ranges of time, 
to the sun.* Such is the law of universal convergence, 
wherein it is the primitive property of all matter, bodies 
and system to condense and focalize. Such is the func- 
tional cause, such is the final result. The sun assimilates 
and is gradually assimilating the solar system; slowly but 
surely they will fall in one by one ! It is the solar 'sea' into 
which these lesser tributaries empty. Thus is the sun the 
final and eternal port or harbor or conservatory of the en- 
tire system, the haven or the Heaven ! Yes, verily is the 
throne of God the Solaris umbilicus, the glowing and firm 
foundation 'stone' of the solar fabric; 'tis the lasting 
Bourne, the jasper Shrine, the aye enduring Sun ! 

It is the organic law of all systems, whether animate 
or inanimate, political or cosmic, to have a Head or a com- 
mon terminus, to and from which, the current of force and 
activity constantly tends and flows. Even such is the ra- 
tional plan on which the solar system was built; and that 
umbilical orb, the sun, is the functional head. And that 
which is the Heaven for all the other planets is likewise the 
Heaven of our earth. There is no special Heaven for the 
children of men above the children of Venus and the blessed 
of Mercury's creation, for our planet is but a dependent 
organic factor in the make up of the solar Integer. Here 
is a great and wonderful system, with its own Heaven, its 
own hell, its own worlds, its own Creator, too ; a complete, 
creative organization intact. One for all ; that mystic M eg- 
asphere which gives day to all, that omnipotent sphere of 

*Not until recently has the planet Neptune hove into view, 
even to the most powerful telescopes. 



THE SEVEN AGES 21 

spheres, that is the solar Capitol and castle of the cosmic 
empire, the goal of bliss ; it is the regal palace of the Sov- 
ereign King and horn of the eternal Strength ! 

ULTIMATION OF AEGUMENT. Of course a de- 
mand for nothing less than a pan-universal Heaven, a par- 
adise on an infinite scale, would satisfy the ambition of 
some people's idea of a celestial world hereafter, where the 
blessed of the Universe of universes shall sing in united 
choirs and hosannahs all within the pale of solitary em- 
pyrean bliss. But such cosmopolitan anticipation is evi- 
dently due to the shortcomings of our understanding and 
the inadequateness of the human mind, nor would such all- 
comprehending magnitude in any way enhance the beati- 
tude. Such idea sprang from our utter misapprehension 
of the measureless mightiness of infinite space, and the 
potential of magnitude and distance which must forever 
lie submerged and hidden in the fathomless realms of the 
void. Undoubtedly, the broadest stretch of the imagina- 
tion which has favored any mortal on the vastness of bound- 
less immensity could be easily circumscribed within the 
limits of solar immensity, if not within the median circle 
of the earth's orbit. Addison has gone so far as to say 
that the size of the earth alone, and which is only like an 
atom in space, is beyond the capacity of any human intel- 
lect. 

There is yet, at least, one other argument, and one 
which we are utterly unable to produce, the argument of 
personal observation, the testimony of an actual eye-witness. 
But the same is ever lacking in proving the existence of a 
Heaven at all; the same is wanting in proving the exis- 



22 INTRODUCTION 

tence of a soul, or the existence of a Deity. We have the 
argument of Nature, which goes far towards establishing 
a solar Heaven; we have the argument of reason, which 
likewise proves the sun to be a divine Throne; but like in 
proving the existence of a God, there is only one sure and 
certain method of solving the problem, and that is by Rev- 
alation's word, wherein we have the testimony of those 
'Eagles' of prophecy (John, Ezekiel, etc.) who were them- 
selves actual eye-witnesses. And which, if we will not be- 
lieve, 'we would not believe one should he come down from 
Heaven or rise from the dead before our eyes, and declare 
these things/ However new and startling as the theory may 
seem to us now, it is quite certain that the time will come 
when the idea of a visible throne of God shall be set down 
as a cononical truth and a dogma of divine faith. Even 
as the once rejected hypothesis of the earth's rotundity soon 
ripened into a substantial, scientific fact, so the discovery 
of a solar Empyrean and glowing seat of the Almighty's 
power must, in time, crystalize into an intrinsic and estab- 
lished doctrine among men. Yes, or as the sun was, on a 
time, shown to be the solar Center, so shall it now be proven 
to be the solar Shrine. 

OTHER CONCLUSIONS. By analogy, it is there- 
fore inferable that the fixed stars are also suns, suns 
afar off! Astronomers tell us that since the fixed stars 
shine by their own light, they are distant suns, self-lumin- 
ous centers of unseen systems. Far away centers of 'solar 
systems/ everywhere thronged throughout the infinite 
mazes of the depths of space. Likewise we say these, too, 
are thrones of the omnipresent Deity, the universal Deity, 



THE SEVEN" AGES 23 

and real Heavens like unto our own sun; and with a dis- 
tinct, presiding personality of infinity's God dwelling in 
each potential seat of endless majesty.* The Almighty 
hath many, many thrones ! 

A DOXOLOGY. The EEIGN within our sun 

might, without protestation or prejudice, be called the 
God of the solar system, beyond whose jurisdiction, for us, 
there is no appeal; 'Hear, Israel, the Lord thy God is one 
God;' and his dynasty is forever and ever; and the realms of 
his empire are unto the utmost bounds of solar dominion. 
And from thence he speaketh by way of omnipotence and 
enduration, from the center of the void, the King of Ages 
speaks : 'I am who am ; before the earth was, I am and my 
glory shall never cease. My joy! my rapture! from eter- 
nity to eternity I am, and no one shall reign but me. The 
earth shall pass away, a moment and these worlds shall be 
no more; yet I am, and there is no one thou shalt adore 
but me. I remember the days of old and the worlds that 

*The Fixed Stars are Suns. The vast distance at which the 
fixed stars are known to be, precludes all thought of their shining, 
like the planets or moon, by reflecting back the light of our sun. 
They must be self-luminous, and are doubtless each the center of 
a system of planets and satellites. 

*Our Sun is one of them. As we see only the suns of these 
distant systems, so their inhabitants see only the sun of ours, 
and that as a small star. This, because of the immense distance. 
Between them and us there is a great chasm which no imagination 
can bridge; a distance so great that figures are meaningless, and 
we can only call it space, — so profound that to us it is limitless, 
boundless, though beyond we see those other suns twinkling like 
distant lights over a waste of waters. The distance of Neptune 
from the sun is 2,750 millions of miles, but the distance of the 
nearest fixed star is nearly 7,000 times farther! If we represent 
the earth's distance from the sun by one foot, then will Neptune's 
distance be represented by thirty feet, while that of the near^t 
fixed star will be about thirty-six miles. 



U INTRODUCTION 

have been since the foundation of the sun was laid, since 
my throne began to shine, yet I am, the self -same, forever 
young; a thousand days with me is as one day that is past. 
From a nameless, dateless beginning, I have overcome all 
things; I have overcome the enemies of God; in my name 
thou shalt conquer/ saith the Lord, 'and there is no one 
thou needst fear but me. Lo, who can stand the blast of my 
wrath, or the rebuke of the heat of my throne ? The arms 
that opposed me are perished for aye, perished are the wea- 
pons of the great. I am Alpha and Omega/ saith the Lord, 
'the first and the last, the beginning and the end, and the 
Lord God Almighty is my name. Who can count the days 
of the everlasting God ? Who will give us, man, the date 
of our solitude or the depth of our profundity; who will 
give us, ye living powers, the number of the year of our 
reign V 



AETICLE II. 
The Solar Hell 

{ He hath set his tabernacle in the sun; and he as a bride- 
groom coming out of his bride chamber hath rejoiced 
as a giant to run the way. His going out is from the 
end of Heaven, and his circuit to the end thereof : and 
there is no one that can hide himself from his heat! 

Psalm xviii: 6-7. 
In the previous article we have endeavored to establish 
the fact that the interior of the sun is the solar Heaven, now 
we shall undertake to prove, however paradoxical it may 
seem, that the exterior of the sun is the Hell of the solar 
system. The Psalmist in the above quotation speaks of a 
certain 'heat' from which no one can hide himself, and 
he speaks of this in connection with the assertion that the 
'tabernacle of God is in the sun/ With the mind free and 
open to conviction, in taking a general view of the matter 
from a scientific standpoint, one cannot help acquiscing 
to the idea that the surface of that awful sphere is the mys- 
terious Hell of Eevelation. It is the 'pool burning with fire 
and brimstone/ the 'lake of fire/ the 'second death/ and 
such like epithets for which the word 'HelF is the universal 
and common term. It simply means the place where all 
refuse, rubbish and waste matter of creation, material or 
spiritual, shall be cast for the purpose of effcting its exter- 
mination. 



26 INTRODUCTION 

It is thus that Hell surrounds Heaven in order to pre- 
vent the entrance into the empyrean of anything corrupt- 
ible and unfit. All things in the solar system must fall to 
the sun, is falling into the sun, and all things therein shall 
be destroyed, annihilated, except such as the Lord God shall 
choose to permit to enter by Heaven's doorway into the 
sanctuary of eternity's blissful abode. All the rest shall be 
destroyed, wiped out ! Hell surrounds the Heaven, lo 'tis 
Heaven's own fortification, the empyrean breastwork,and no 
one of himself can pass the solar fortress nor hide from 
its heat. Hell is the protector of Heaven and the ornation 
of all nature. Flame is the adornment without and cordons 
of fire the embellishment of the sapphire throne, and heat 
the emblem of the scepter : behold, verily, the pyro-regalia 
of infinity's see. There is nothing so hot as the sun ; there 
is nothing so bright as the sun; what might we expect to 
see so hot as hell or so bright as the throne of God ? Nay, 
who durst e'en look on His throne, for the flood of torrid 
splendor gushing from the fount of light? Eevelation 
like the sun embodies a Heaven clad in fire, and religion 
like that sacred orb enshrines an endless paradise wrapped 
in obscurity and which the eye of faith alone can see. 

Hell is the armory of Heaven, the bulwark of eternity. 
Hell guards the Heaven with an invincible wall of fire! 
Thus has Providence in his unerring wisdom made a double 
use of Hell ; first to effect the destruction of all waste mat- 
ter, and, second, to protect the most sacred vaults of the 
'Holy of Holies' within. And no one can pass through 
except by permission of the Almighty and his keepers of 
Heaven's gate. Of all fires we ever saw or heard, there 



THE SEVEN AGES 27 

is none like to this ; this is the eternal fire ! 'I have kindled 
a fire in my wrath, said the Lord, and it shall not be 
quenched/ 

The sun is the Almighty's bright throne impaled in a 
robe of fire, and that fire 'serene' is the solar Hell; but so 
far, far away we cannot hear its roar, nor the woeful surge 
of its swell! 0, the monsters who were devoured there, 
and the hecatombs of felons that were slain, slain, and the 
wrecks that were grieved there of yore; that the great in 
Heaven tremble, sitting on securest seats, and the mighty 
shrink in fear, when they ponder on the power of Hell, and 
what its history yet might be ! 

The fire of Hell is terrific ! Speaking of the intensity 
of the heat of this fire, we have simply to say, it is the fierc- 
est in creation. Raised to a white heat, the heat of the sun 
is the hottest possible. Even from a distance of more than 
ninety million miles, how easily it prostrates us mortals. 
The solar flame is constantly fed from meteors and cosmic 
debris which rain down from all sides out of space in in- 
cessant showers on the surface of the sun. Such is the final 
end of all matter. The planets, comets, satillites and our 
own earth are slowly, imperceptibly, but surely winding 
their way down to inevitable doom. And all wicked spirit 
and being shall also perish there. Hell shall destroy all 
things except the spirit of the just; and then, like ai} all- 
consuming tyrant, murmur to himself that he could not de- 
vour their smoke. The one burning passion of hell is that he 
might be able one day to devour the universe and lay all 
things waste ! 



28 INTRODUCTION 

That fierce, furious, tremendous white fire devours 
all cosmic refuse and rubbish, whether of matter or being. 
All foulness and wickedness shall here be destroyed. Great 
is the fire of the throne, great is the solar flame! All 
'weeds' and grass and corruption and serpents and sin-fed 
growths, and ordurous and obnoxious things go in here. 
And all dross and solar waste and old worlds and worn- 
out planets and worthless creations and wasted systems, and 
decrepid earths and the sweepings of immensity, and un- 
couth beings and monsters and canker-eaten things, and all 
proud and disdainful things and all abominable things, and 
all hateful and deadly things are devoured here, for, ah, the 
living throne is clad in a robe of white death, and this great, 
central, white fire forever keepeth the solar system 
purified. Aye, since solar eternity begun nothing has ever 
been found able to withstand the intensity of this all-de- 
vouring all-enghouling white fire. Nor rock nor brass nor 
spirits nor devils, nor hard substances, nor the strong, nor 
clay nor water nor granite, nor demons nor gorgons can 
resist the depredation of the flames of this unquenchable, 
inexorable white fire ! 

Astronomers tell us that the heat of the sun is some- 
thing prodigious. Such as filled the ancient naturalist with 
awe and is still the inexplicable puzzle of the modern phys- 
isist, and men must bow their heads in reverential wonder 
and amazement when they contemplate the power of the 
Being who made the sun and gave to it the potential of its 
radiative energy ! The amount of heat we receive annually 
across the depths of space is sufficient to melt a layer of ice 
thirty-eight yards in thickness extending over the whole 



THE SEVEN AGES 29 

earth. Yet the sunbeam is only one three-millionths part 
as intense as it is at the surface of the sun. It is said if 
the heat of the sun were produced by the burning of coal, 
it would require a layer ten feet in thickness, extending 
over the whole surface of the sun to feed the flame a sin- 
gle hour. Sir John Hershel says that if a solid cylinder of 
ice forty-five miles in diameter and 200,000 miles long were 
plunged end first into the sun's fire, it would melt in a sec- 
ond of time. Truly, is not this solar chaldron the eternal 
and unquenchable fire spoken of in the Bible ? Is not this 
'fiery pooF the 'second death' referred to in Eevelation, 
where the unfortunate wicked shall henceforth be cast after 
the disappearance of the earth before the presence of the 
'great white throne?' 'And hell and death were cast into 
the pool of fire; this is the second death. And whomso*- 
ever was not found written in the book of life was cast into 
the pool of fire! The 'second death' means the destruc- 
tion and death of the soul or spirit. Is not the sun's fire 
great enough to answer the purpose of an ideal Hell ? Nay, 
argument is unnecessary ; the truth is only too self-evident, 
fearfully conclusive. Obeservers say that during a total 
eclipse, immense tongues of flame are seen to shoot out from 
the sun's edge for a distance of 200,000 miles in all direc- 
tions; swift messengers from that treacherous deep; as if 
voracious, bristling, beryl hell would fletch out into remot- 
est regions and usurp and imperil immensity itself. This 
great fire is no illusion; it is a fire, hell's fire, high and 
bright that all may see. There is nothing under the Heaven 
so plain to be seen as Hell, though safely yet, the while 
standing on our own beloved planet and gazing o'er the 
distance, we behold the gigantic flood of the solar Gehenna ! 



30 INTRODUCTION 

By associating these astronomical teachings with those 
of religion we unite another two of the great and leading 
principles of science and ethics which instantly chime and 
unify, the one clearing up and solving the grand mystery of 
the other. For the Apocalypse, in its revelations, is co-ex- 
tensive with the solar system, and the divine message deals 
unreservedly with that portion of the cosmic structure as 
is more directly connected with the creation of man, to 
whom the Divine Word was given; namely, the earth, sun 
and moon. Such indeed is the unmodified conclusion which 
this astro-doctrinal theme forces upon us. This theory ef- 
fects a reconciliation, to the satisfaction of both reason 
and the senses, between the discrepancies and heretofore 
opposing tendencies of science and theology. We see how 
amicably these things will agree when once rightly under- 
stood. Evidently, the apparent shortcomings in these prov- 
inces are merely the shortcomings in the human compre- 
sion and may be entirely explained away when the true in- 
terpretation is applied and the proper mode of exegesis dis- 
covered. In the true interpretation of science, one cannot 
depart from the interpretations of the revelations of God. 
Both are the teachings of Himself and His wonderful 
works, though from different sources. Nor can we be per- 
suaded that any portion of the mysteries of Revelation's 
word, which, being given to man for the edification and 
moral instruction of his race, shall to him forever remain in 
a latent hidden state of incomprehensibility. It is said 'there 
is nothing hidden but shall be revealed, and nothing secret 
but shall be made known/ There are signs and signals abun- 
dant enough, withal, in both nature and in the book, where- 
fore to infer all these things only to surmise them, and 



! 



THE SEVEN AGES 31 

like in mathematical equations we may in a great measure 
deduce the unknown from that which is known. 

When less of the abstract and more of the concrete 
enters into religion and its teachings, men will be more 
given to believe. Man is a matter-of-fact creature, and ever 
ready to believe what he sees and understands, and not 
much more. He may believe in mysteries or he may not, as 
it suits him ; it is difficult for him to do so ; mysteries are 
anyhow a stumbling-block to him. Yet he will never say 
that he does not want to learn and know about these things. 
Besides, why should any cloud of obscurity surround the 
knowledge of the real and exact locations of Heaven and 
Hell? Can anyone assign any reason why these all-im- 
portant places should be kept secret and hid from mortal 
vision ? No, the vagueness exists in the human concept, not 
in the reality. However, such is a deep-seated error that will 
be hard for a time to remove, even like the idea of the sun 
being nothing but a vast desolate fire ball. We must rescue 
ourselves from the old time-worn roots of nondescriptness 
and vagueness, and let our mental conceptions put on real 
form. Such misapprehensions entrammel the mind, like 
the people who once believed the earth to be flat regarded 
the calculation of sailing around the globe as an idle, foolish 
dream. 

This astro-theory of the doctrine of Heaven and Hell 
is purely non-sectarian. Nor does it belong to any special 
form of religion, except that it upholds in that measure 
any and all forms of doctrine which maintain the real ex- 
istence of these final and everlasting abodes. Nor can 
it be urged, in the least, as prejudicial to the broadest ex- 
position of the dogmas and tenets of Christianity. Our 



32 INTRODUCTION 

position is simply an original and specific species of theo- 
logical solution, based on a new phase of scientific discovery. 
Is it not time that men should know the mystery of the sun ? 
Is it not time the world should understand the deeper mis- 
sion of that bright and lofty miracle of power? Is it in 
any wise unreasonable or derogatory to our most cherished 
faith and sanctity to believe that solar Colossus to be the 
See of the Great God ? What more befitting residence could 
we either imagine or desire in which to enshrine our be- 
loved Creator, the Father of all love and goodness to whom 
we daily pray ? 

Like that of an endless Heaven, it is also one of the 
oldest teachings in religion that there is somewhere an 
everlasting Hell ; a place of punishment for the wicked and 
all evildoers. It also seems to be an innate principle of 
justification or resentment instinctive in the human soul 
that there ought to be, and therefore must be, a place of 
destruction for all treachery and corruption. The idea is 
self -appealing. Both nature and reason cry out for such, de- 
mand such, establish such. Likewise, reason and conscience 
declare in favor of a place of everlasting reward for the 
virtuous, the true, the brave, the good. A place of dis- 
franchisement in the end from the woes and cares of a 
troubled world like this. Places, these, 'where the wicked 
cease from troubling and the weary are at rest/ This is 
a doctrine which has its foundation in the Divine Word 
and its superstructure in the human breast; a doctrine 
which is the hope of the just, but the terror of the wicked. 
Evil should be destroyed, but goodness should be rewarded 
with unending happiness. This is an ethical element as 
old as religion, and as constant as day and night, and the 



THE SEVEN AGES 33 

embodiment of the doctrine is in the two old-fashioned 
words — Heaven and Hell ! Places whose existence believers 
are given to affirm, while skeptics are prone to deny; and 
the negative takes advantage of the shroud of vagueness 
and indefiniteness ever surrounding the question of loca- 
tion and identical whereabouts of these nondescript abodes ; 
until the world is learning more and more to doubt and to 
altogether deny these existences and to tauntingly question 
the most orthodox principles of divine truth, and to even 
refuse to accept as rational the doctrines of revealed fact. 
'Where is thy Heaven; where thy Hell? Show us these 
places, Theophilis, or at least tell us where they are and we 
will believe/ This, then, is perhaps the most serious draw- 
back in religion in all ages, namely, the lack of definiteness 
and concreteness in its teachings. In the field of doctrinal 
ethics there is no obstacle so formidable as the snag of 
uncertainty. It gives boldness to iniquity and license to 
immorality on every road of invasion, by removing the 
curbstones of fear and hope from a life hereafter and the 
prospects of a world to come, until the prevalence of sin 
and crime, even now, in our day, cries to Heaven for ven- 
geance ! 

Such is, indeed, the practical feasibility and 
utility of this theo-cosmic evolution.* The mere 
unqualified intelligence that Heaven is an elysian, 
a paradise, a place of future emancipation and 
felicity , an incomprehensible something, somewhere, 

* Though this is generally regarded as an age of doctrinal de- 
cline, it is nevertheless an age of keen and thoughtful inquiry, 
when the world is grasping and sighing for a more substantial 
form of truth and light; in a word, the world at this time wants, 
nay, demands that these things be explained. 



34 INTRODUCTION 

though we know not what it is, and that Hell is a 
dungeon of punishment somewhere hidden away; such we 
say is a mode of explanation that does not wholly satisfy the 
thinking mind. Our reason desires something clearer, more 
real, and even in our best moments we instinctively revolt 
against such shadowy prospects of hope and fear. Not that 
this exposition of ours is intended as an ingenuous scheme 
to supply any want or deficiency in either of the depart- 
ments of science of religion. Our deductions are genuine 
solutions and disclosures, spontaneous discoveries as the 
result of years of patient investigation as to why our noble 
science and the teachings of the Bible seemingly refused 
to harmonize. Nor can there be anything irreverent or 
sacreligious in this unveiling of Heaven or the unmasking 
of Hell. Nor can such be deemed an indignity beneath the 
Throne of Him that liveth forever and ever. Verily, verily, 
Heaven and Heir are the throne of God; Hell represents the 
vvrath of God and Heaven is like His love. The jasper 
sphere is an emblem of Him whose 'countenance shineth 
like the sun in its full strength/ 

On the contrary we regard it as a Christian preroga- 
tive and duty of any person, so disposed, to undertake the 
task of inquiry and investigation, provided he does not con- 
flict with the established and canonical principles of morals, 
faith, or Church. Methodizing and philosophizing are in- 
dications of mental progress. To unfold the mysteries of 
nature is to learn the wisdom of God. Truth is the goal 
of all human aspirations, and virtue the highest end of all 
human endeavor, and the clearing up of the mysteries is 
now the richest boon which could well be bestowed on a 
world, 



THE SEVEN AGES 35 

Cosmo-theology is the true school in which to explore 
and expound the revelations of nature and Scripture. This 
by uniting the two, and thus closing up the vast, indescrib- 
able gulf of blackness which has heretofore divided the two. 
Religion is the core of all true philosophy, the revelation 
also of nature. Such speculation cannot be reputed, either, 
as the work of pulling down any doctrinal support or edi- 
fice, for this is the great edifice of religion that was never 
built up, the unfinished part of the divine structure. 

Duly impressed with the mightiness of the import, and 
fully apprised of the fact that the value of any theory con- 
sists only in the essential truth it contains, we started out 
with such status and datum as we can offer. Trusting, how- 
ever, that to show the location of eternity's own abodes is 
to prove their palpable existence; and to prove their sensi- 
ble existence alike proves the existence of a personal Deity, 
whose it is to forever champion the cause of eternity; and 
likewise proves true all that the inspired Book has taught, 
and at the same time tolls a sounding knell to infidelity and 
crime. And when I looked around and had seen the reek- 
ings of iniquitv on the earth, I exclaimed: 'Show them 
Thy Heaven, God, and show them Thy Hell, that a terror 
might strike into them, or else a new spring of hope P 

And now we shall take leave of hell with a cordial 
adieu, and, while we may, most politely excuse ourself be- 
fore the bright laughing Terror, hoping we may not be 
obliged at some future day to 'call again/ 



AETICLE III. 
The Problem of Creation 

In previous articles we exposed the doctrine of a solar 
Heaven and a solar Hell. We shall now, as an introductory 
phase to Theory X, of the body of the work, undertake to 
explain the origin and source of Material Creation itself. 

Let us commence by showing that angels fell from 
Heaven in the past, and then that these sinful angels were 
cast into the great Hell and were destroyed, annihilated! 
Truly this is the problem of destruction, but the problem of 
creation originated in and grew out of the problem of de- 
struction. 

In proof of this fearful speculation, Eevelation again 
affords many striking and unmistakable passages, espe- 
cially the following: 'And there was a great battle in 
Heaven; Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; 
and the dragon fought and his angels, and they prevailed) 
not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven. 
And that great dragon was cast out, the old serpent, who is 
called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; 
and he was cast forth unto the earth, and his angels were 
thrown down with him/ (Eev. xii:8-9.) 

Like in all matters of inquiry into the final cause of 
things, the first and final cause, the Divine Word alone af- 
fords us any insight. Here we have an instance of a battle 
in Heaven. The battle was fought by whom? By good 



THE SEVEN AGES 37 

angels on one side and bad angels on the other side. And 
this was a great battle. Yes, a most mighty battle, such as 
mortals hath never seen; great as Heaven is above the 
earth, when the archangel banished the serpent of the sun ! * 
Exceedingly great and fierce! When the bad angels 
knew they were about to be cast out of Heaven forever, and 
what was still worse, they were to be afterwards cast into 
HelPs fire to be destroyed and punished, was not this the 
strongest possible incentive to cause them to resist with the 
utmost power of their being? However, we see they were 
defeated. The bad are always defeated in the end. No- 
tice, too, that the evil angels are called 'devils and satans/ 
tempters. And how in united conflict they are designated as 
'the dragon/ How does it come that these bad angels taken 
collectively in a united body are described as a dragon, a 
serpent? Well, sin hath done this. Sin reduced them to 
serpents or into a serpentine formation. Long eras of 
celestial sin and transgression transformed these wicked 
angels into a united serpent. The ultimate consequence 
of protracted sin is to effect this most abject state of being. 
Of course, the bad angels were not reduced to the real ser- 
pent form as yet, but before they are destroyed they shall 
become actual and real serpents, f This is why they must be 

*Hence is war rightly considered a diabolical invention. It 
is the Devil who has ever made war a necessity, both in heaven 
and on earth. 

fThe 'Serpent' is, of course, the lowest order of being, and 
the lowest possible condition, on a biological scale, into which any 
being may fall. The philosophy of the text is clear, from the fact 
that the constitutional effect of sin is to deteriorate during pro- 
tracted ranges of time, the essential nature of the being, which 
degeneration cannot otherwise than, sooner or later, revert the 
victim into a lower form of being. 



38 . INTKODUCTION 

destroyed, because of the wickedness and depravity of their 
very nature and being. Thus they are in united body called 
the 'old serpent/ Besides it is one of the essential qualities 
of spirit being that many spirits can unite themselves, like 
many clouds, into a perfect oneness, into one being, and 
again, at will, resolve themselves into as many separate 
ones. 

At any rate, without dilating further on this topic, we 
see that the dragon was cast out of Heaven, out from the 
sun, so he might with propriety be called the solar Serpent. 
But this same dragon is also described in the Bible as a 
'Lucifer/ The word Lucifer means light or an angel of 
light. And as the consequences of his sin (for angels have 
power to sin if they will) he became a dragon. Hence in 
the prophecies of Isaias we see the following passage: 
'How art thou fallen from Heaven, Lucifer, son of the 
morning; how are thou fallen to the earth/ This passage 
was addressed by way of metaphor to the king of ancient 
Babylon. But it nevertheless alludes to the angel Lucifer 
as having in reality fallen from Heaven. And we see in 
the Gospel where Christ, ref ering to the fall of Satan, said : 
'/ saw Satan fall from Heaven as lightning/ 

Thus it is beyond question that angels were cast out of 
Heaven. And it is likewise deprehensible, that as angels 
fell, angels are likely to fall, and that they always were 
liable to fall. Then by expatiating on the premises, and 
knowing that the length of time in eternity is endless, we 
may infer that the number of angels who fell and were cast 
out of Heaven during eternity's past, is infinite. Then, 
by analogy, extending the same to any and all of the fixed 
stars, we have the numberless suns, heavens, which stud 



THE SEVEN AGES 39 

the starry vault, multiplied into endless eternity, produc- 
ing, indeed, a multitude of which no reckoning could be 
made. It is a sad and mournful theme, though no less true, 
that destruction is the first cause of creation. These angelic 
beings were, of course, destroyed, had, for cause, to be 
destroyed. Now, where is the ruins of the past? Where 
their ashes, their smoke, their remains ? Where the source 
of creation's material? The conclusion is unanswerable; 
the universe is a Pile raised from the wreck of eternity's 
remains! Awful, dreadful! Beautiful, glorious! Like a 
sunbeam breaking through a tempest cloud ! Life out of 
death ; creation rose anew out of the smoke of the strife of 
the past. 

This is no hypothesis, or theory based on imagination ; 
it is based on the foundation of conceded and revealed the- 
ology, and simply expanded by induction. Induction and 
deduction are the two great processes of reasoning by which 
we may trace out the unknown by the known. It is the 
exact and plain logic of geometry and problematic dem- 
onstration. Why not apply the same method to theology? 
Yes, sin and angelic conduct in Heaven predetermines the 
order and creation of outer worlds. 

And Eevelation also shows that these outcasts of 
eternity were dstroyed : 'And hell and death were cast into 
the pool of fire, which is the second death' (xx:14). The 
first 'death' in this quotation means the angel of death him- 
self, and the 'second death' means the death of the spirit. 
And, fortelling the consequences which befall the wicked 
at the last judgment, Christ said: Then shall He {the 
King) say to them also that shall he on his left hand: De- 
part from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was 



40 INTEODUCTIOKT 

prepared for the devil and his angels' (Mat. xxv). Now, 
the ultimate result of hell's fire is to effect an utter depriva- 
tion of being. During the course of long ranges of cosmic 
time, they at length become utterly consumed,* when their 
essence and the substance of their nature bcomes all radi- 
ated off in the form of light, and disseminated throughout 
the length and breadth of the great deep of space. It is a 
mistake to suppose that these or any beings suffer endlessly 
in hell, without becoming annihilated. Such is absurd 
from the fact that pain in itself implies loss, and continual 
pain continual loss. But the pain of a spirit bein^r, suffer- 
ing in intense heat, is not like that of weak, mortal flesh. 
The endurance of spirit nature is such as to almost defy 
destruction's violence, or even pain. It is also an absurdity 
to attribute an insubstantial quality and character to the 
beings of the supernatural world, even as Heaven is repre- 
sented to be some kind of an immaterial, hidden pageant 
world, an unreal, vague land. These are, though invisible 
to us, the most substantial and real of all being. The most 
perfect substantiality and lasting durability characterizes 
the great beings inhabiting the realms of the higher sphere. 
But in the course of the process of hell's destruction (for 
helPs fire will in time destroy anything) the eroded 
part constantly goes off in the form of light radiation from 



*The causes which led to angelic downfall is sin. Undoubt- 
edly, the nature of this sin consisted in premature and inordin- 
ate deification, or beatification before the perfection of their re- 
spective being was consummated. The effect of sin in any being 
is a deterioration of constitutional vigor and consequent spiritual 
and physical decline, which condition rendered these immortals 
more refractory, combustible and obliterative. (These matters 
are treated more at[ length in the body of the work.) 



THE SEVEN AGES 41 

the sun.* Bright destruction ! And, departing, the same 
goes off into and remains invisible in the infinite void. It 
is the motion of light which makes it visible ; as soon as this 
radiant ether is at rest and motionless, it then becomes in- 
visible. The motion of light is intense, marvelous ! It is 
said that light travels at the rate of 186,000 miles a second. 

Now the main feature in the issue of this theme is to 
explain that the cremated remains of past destruction go 
into the boundless void, the appropriate graveyard of eter- 
nity^ dead. The light going off from the sun is liable to 
be in a measure the bright smoke of spirit destruction in the 
solar hell; likewise from the fixed stars, for these, too, are 
universal hells. But the revelation of the Bible does not 
attempt to treat of anything, nor extend outside the prov- 
ince of the solar system. And even there, the traditions 
and legends are again restricted specifically to recent solar 
time. That is, such time as has any direct connection with 
the creation of our planet. For the fall of Lucifer is the 
first cause of the creation of the earth. The ultimate and 
perfected organic creation herein being destined and or- 
dained by the Creator to supply and refill the lost seats of 
the fallen angels of the dragon. Outside of this our rev- 
elations has nothing to do. With other planets our revela- 
tion has nothing to do. Back of this certain date, nor with 
the traditions of other suns, other heavens, other falls, other 
issues, other rises, our God-given revelations has nothing to 
do. 

*This is, of course, original light. However, much of the light 
given off from the sun consists in the disolved atomic elements 
of burning metals, electricity, etc., which latter form of light 
might be called visible or radiant heat. 



42 INTKODTTCTION 

Consequently, all else must be inferred. And it is very 
inferable that as Lucifer fell immediately prior to the rise 
of terrestrial creation and is destined to be destroyed, so did 
other mighty angels fall during solar eternity, of which, 
to us, no mention is made. If one angel fell, and was liable 
to fall, so were others, and that, too, from the same Heaven. 
Then where is the limit? How many seraphs sinned and 
fell ? We shall answer according to the dictates of reason, 
that as eternity is endless, and the workings thereof has no 
limit, so the number of angels who fell is limitless. And 
the same theory holds, by generalizing, to any and all the 
infinitude of the fixed stars ; thence what is the result less 
than infinity multiplied into eternity? 

This is not saying that the track of the past is all 
strewn and whitened with the bones of disaster (for the 
decline and fall of celestial being is and must be of compar- 
atively rare occurrence, for the reason, if no other, that 
there are no devils in Heaven to first tempt them to sin), 
but it is saying that there are remains of wrecks, however 
few and far between, more or less all the way. And their 
ruins filled the void blank of space with the rare, invisible, 
intangible, ethereal 'atmosphere' of their 'smoke/ Now, we 
shall have it, that this universal atmosphere is the grand 
and eternal source from which visible creation sprung, and 
from which the material universe is perpetually wrought. 
Perhaps this is the chief development of the theory. The 
remains of angelic cremation is thus forever reviving and 
reforming into new created matter and being, when the in- 
visible becomes visible, and creation is made anew. Behold, 
said the Lord, f I make all things new/ The glorious universe 
of suns and planets and comets and stars and moons and 



THE SEVEN AGES 43 

worlds, and all manner of being as dwell and subsist there- 
on, and which we behold magnificently risen and surmount- 
ingly filling the heights and depths, all this, we say, 
is but the timely fulfillment and survival from the fearful 
past, or as one would say, the resurrection of universal 
death, eternity's great, great dead ! A glorious reclamation 
by the power of the living God from the ruins of the aw- 
ful catastrophies of eternity's long, long past and infinity's 
stern dooms ! 

Thinkest thou these things have not happened? In 
the realms of eternity's achievements there is nothing pos- 
sible, good or bad, great or small, happy or unhappy, that 
has not happened. Will anyone think for a moment that 
the narrow sphere of our own observation and experience 
circumscribes the utmost, the extremest of all that was ever 
done ? Who can comprehend the achievements or measure 
the possibilities of God and the great workings of infinity ? 
We are referring now more explicitly to the negative side 
of untold transpirements ; transgressions, curses and pun- 
ishments. Even the mighty history given to us in the rev- 
elations of the great Apocalypse, and which is to us so mys- 
terious and wonderful, is only a mite in eternity's record. 
Yes, great things have happened of old; ancient strifes, 
whose records dire are blotted out with age ; dreadful won- 
ders, such as never entered the minds of men ; presumptuous 
rage, when the unholy fled from the anger of God; hoary 
sinners of antiquity who defied the Almighty's wrath in the 
day that they fell, till a bereaved Heaven paled at the 
emptying of thrones from on high! Mighty, threatening 
felons of yore, who warred against God in Heaven, whom 
the Lord God alone could overthrow, but they perished by 



44 INTRODUCTION 

the heat of the Omnipotent 'sword' and the fathomless 
deep is their grave. Notice the potent cause why hell was 
made; these enemies of creation would have undone the 
works of God had not their existence been thus deposed. 

It is generally admitted by Physicists, both ancient and 
modern, that all space is filled with an unknown medium, 
described as being a thin, rare, invisible substance common- 
ly called 'Ether/ 'Universal atmosphere/ 'Crystalline fluid/ 
etc. Plato taught that the universe was formed out of 
pre-existent, amorphous matter. But this seems to be as 
far as these speculators had gone. They did not undertake 
to explain the cause and origin of the Ether, nor did they 
but dimly show the character of itsliature, or the law and 
method by which the same is concentrated into matter ; nor 
did they resolve the same into an universal Force which 
confers the properties of weight and motion to all matter. 

As we have already accounted for the origin of this 
celestial fluid, we shall now proceed to explain that the 
character of this ethereal fluid is simply that of an univer- 
sal Atomic element. This invisible fluid simply consists, 
in itself, of the original Atoms which enter into the consti- 
tution of all matter. The Atoms might be defined as the 
indivisible portions, or smallest minims of which any 
substance is composed. Hence, for the sake of convenience, 
we shall call this celestial ether the Atomic element. Now, 
this atomic element is also of a double nature, which double- 
ness is manifested first in water in the doubleness of that 
element, for water is the first form of all matter, the first 
visible formation into which the celestial Ether concentrates 
itself. Whence it is that water is composed of the two or- 
iginal elements of all nature, namely, oxygen and hydrogen. 



'■ ■ 



THE SEVEN AGES 45 

Secondly, the doubleness of the atomic element expresses 
itself in the organic age, or the age of the creation of being, 
in the quality of sex. For male and female are eternal 
characteristics of being, and when eternal beings are des- 
troyed the doubleness of their nature is also consigned in 
their remains. This theory, therefore, explains the mys- 
tery of sex in all organic beings. 

But the manner in which this fluid of the boundless 
deep concentrates itself into matter is now to be shown. 
Though this part of the theory is not absolute- 
ly new, yet it is new in the main. The manner 
is that of vortices. Universal systems of vortices 
or celestial whirlpools of space. The great deep is every- 
where concentrating itself into matter at certain 
central points, and these points are the numberless 
suns or fixed stars of immensity, of which our sun is the 
central or focal sphere of the solar whirlpool. Then again, 
within the vast solar vortex, there are several smaller ones, 
like wheels within a wheel, of which the planets are the 
axiel centers. Yes, and still other smaller ones within ihe 
planet systems, with satellites as centers. Now, it is the 
force of the solar, vortical current that produces the orbit- 
ular motion of the planets and the rotary motion of the sun. 
Likewise, the revolving force of the planets' vortex affects 
the rotary motion of the planet and the orbitular motion 
of the moons. 

Thus it is that the element of the great deep is forever 
condensing itself into matter in the form of great spheres. 
Thus it is that creation is risen posthumously and 
Phenix-like, up and out of the infinite disaster of angelic 



46 INTRODUCTION 

downfall. Thus it is that the manner of eternity's resurrec- 
tion is ever visioned in creation's spangled habiliment, and 
in beings' and worlds' multifarious modes and entities, in- 
habiting and investing the ever-moving, ever-rolling deep, 
and tangibly witnessed in matter's ponderous adjustment, 
poise and equipose. Such is the mystery of creation; de- 
struction is the origin of creation. New creations cannot, 
need not produce, until old ones are first destroyed. Then 
new creations rise up to take the place of the old annihil- 
ated ones. Out of the wreck of the past the future springs 
anew. Such is the solution of the mystery of the 'wonder- 
ful works of God. And behold, how now, a whirling uni- 
verse rests on rolling rotundity, and immensity hangs on 
revolving Thrones and flaming Shrines, and day and night, 
and time and years, race round on rapid spheres. 

In conclusion of this subject it remains to be reiterated 
that the first condition in which all matter exists is the 
form of water. The earth and all the planets existed or- 
iginally in the form of great liquid spheres. Here, again, 
omniscient Scripture steps in to show us how our world 
was made: 'In the beginning God created Heaven and 
earth. And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was 
upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God moved over 
the waters (Gen. i:i-ii). The Heaven here referred to is 
the terrestrial firmament. 

The earth was 'void and empty,' because nothing was 
in her sphere but water. Life was then the first thing cre- 
ated within the great virgin sphere; life, animal 
or vegetable (first in order the vegetable for wa- 
ter and sunlight soon breeds life. 'For the dumb 






THE SEVEN AGES 47 

water and without life, brought forth living things at the 
command of God, that all people might praise they won- 
drous works/ The prolific waters of the globe soon be- 
came pregnant with primeval life, when the mighty sphere 
soon commenced developing at the center, from the settling 
sedimentation, into a solid concrete globe.* The solid 
sphere thus gradually drew from its center. Thus all plan- 
ets existed at first in the state of water, which afterwards, 
through the agency of organic life, became by degrees con- 
verted into a smaller solid globe. Thus our planet is trans- 
formed into her present advanced stage through the evolu- 
tion of the life of her past ages, and the proportion of her 
once great sea is reduced to its present limits. 

*Thus the solid globe or the terra flrma originated at the 
center of the original sphere. As the neucleus evolved and grew, 
of course its weight increased, and the force of pressure in its 
mass and matter, likewise, increased. With the volume, increased 
the ponderance, and with the ponderance, the pressure, till the 
augmenting pressure became intense at the focal, central point, 
where it actually and at length, caused the very matter to burn. 
Thus were all spheres ignited early, for indeed a very finite though 
constant force of say some few hundred tons per square inch, is 
capable of causing any matter to actually burn. Yes, tremendous 
pressure caused the central portion of the sVlid mass of matter 
to burn; even as pressure causes the sun's mighty volume to 
burn with terrible energy. But as the focal center heated and 
burned, it is evident that the interior region gradually burned 
out. Burned out, and became hollow, concave, whence the sphere 
became a hollow shell. Thus all celestial spheres became concave 
• shells. And as the evolving heat all goes out and off, the interior 
'surface' became cool. Such is the true philosophy of the hol- 
lowness of celestial spheres. 

Of course the present state of science on this subject is to con- 
tend that the earth and all cosmic bodies are solid. This, we must 
say, is an error, contrary to reason and diametrically opposed 
to the teachings of Scripture. If the earth were a perfect solid, 
the increasing pressure centerward would be raised to infinity at 
the central point, and no finite substance is capable of withstand- 



ARTICLE IV. 
Contraction of the Solar System 

i 

It is the doctrine of the Plenist that all space is filled 
with matter; that the length and breadth of the universe 
is replete with a certain complement of matter, dense or 
rare, light or heavy, visible or invisible, tangible or intan- 
gible. The term plenist is derived from plentitude, and 
plentitude means fulness or plenty. That all space is re- 
plenished with its appropriate complement of substance, 
with no absolute blank, void nor emptiness anywhere, is 
the correct philosophy of the plentitudinarian. No unused 
or unoccupied territory in the infinite providence of the 
infinite God. And some plenists extend the theory to the 
purpose that the mode, form, order and design of all things 
in the universe, taken as a whole, consists in the most per- 
fect possible condition. This doctrine is practically true. 
But in the visible universe, everything might rather be con- 
sidered as existing in the progressing, evolutionary state. 
However, it seems this class of philosophers did not push 
their investigations in search either of the origin, or 'first 
cause/ on one hand, nor the development of matter on the 
other hand. Like many of the most important discoveries 

ing an infinite force. Indeed, it is the force of intense pressure 
that finally resolves all matter into heat, and that at a great 
depth. Besides Revelation declares in most positive terms that 
the interior of the earth is the 'Bottomless Pit.' (See Apoc. 
ix:l-2 and xiii : 11 and xvii:8.) 



THE SEVEN AGES 49 

in the field of invention, these matters were left to await the 
result of modern thought and research. And, in our mite 
of investigation, we find it evident from more than one 
view of the question, that visible creation came forth from 
the plentitude of the inane, dead depths, and that all the 
works of God are visible in the form of great spheres ; even 
Heaven and Hell are visible, material creations ; yes, these 
two special productions stand out as the main, chiefest and 
most prominent of God's works in the universe. 

The solar system and the solar systems, or the number- 
less systems of the great universe with suns as their centers, 
may each be regarded as an integer or a unit in itself, dis- 
tinct and separate, and existing in a state according to the 
common law of systems. The solar system consists of the sun 
at its center, and eight or nine planets revolving around 
that center at various distances, from 35,392,000 miles 
or the distance of Mercury, to that of Neptune, or 2,746,- 
271,000 miles; all revolving in the same direction, i. e., 
from west to east, or in the directions of the hands of a 
watch facing north. Now this vast system is nothing more 
nor less than an immense whirlpool of ethereal space crys- 
talizing into matter, and carrying this matter around about 
with itself, and likewise slowly but surely downward to- 
wards the common Center. It is a common principle of 
philosophy seen in everyday life, that whenever liquid or 
fluid seeks a center, as when poured into a funnel, a rotary 
motion is established. So it is with the element of space, 
seeking those great centers; a vast, cosmic whirl- 
pool is established. And as sure as the current carries 
the generated matter around with it, so surely does it con- 
stantly draw the same matter, though imperceptibly, to- 



50 INTRODUCTION 

wards the central point. The solar system is contracting 
and settling sunward. The orbits of the planets are dimin- 
ishing, and the time will come when the planets shall fall 
to the sun, when the earth shall fall to the sun, and be 
burned up ! Such is the end of all matter ; to burn is the 
end of all matter in the fires of hell ; for, the sun is the solar 
Pyre! 

The first step in the production of matter is to orig- 
inate, but the second step is to densify. Matter originates 
in the rarest form (water in either the liquid or gaseous 
state) and through the slow and gradual processes of time, 
it concentrates and densifies into the heavy solid form, as 
clay, rock, ore, metal. So it is with the solar system. So 
it is with each and every planet and body in that system. 
All matter originated in the form of water and ends in that 
of metal and fire. 

It is the purpose of this essay to demonstrate from the 
provinces both of science and theology that the solar system 
is contracting and concentrating towards the sun. (On 
page 17 of the Aqueous Age see table of solar system shotv- 
ing the distances, densities, size, force of gravity, etc., of the 
various members.) 

By taking a general survey of the stupendous structure, 
we see as a rule that the planets more and most remote from 
the sun are much the largest bodies ; not only this, but they 
are likewise the rarest and lightest, about the density or 
less than that of water. The density of Neptune is esti- 
mated at .96, water taken as 1; that of Mercury, or the 
nearest known planet to the sun, 7.03 ; or, Mercury is more 
than seven times as solid and dense as Neptune. Between 



THE SEVEN AGES 51 

these two bodies the other planets increase their density 
very nearly on a graduated scale. That of earth is 5.67. 
The specific gravity of Neptune is about equal to that of wa- 
ter, while that of Mercury is about the same as that of cast 
iron. This goes to show that the remote bodies are of most 
recent origin, while the age of Mercury is comparatively 
very great. It is small, old and dense, and its location away 
down near the sun. When the other members reach this 
solar position, they will undoubtedly be the same in form 
and substance, and, conversely, when Mercury originated, it 
was away out in the depths of space, even beyond the orbit 
of Neptune. The change of transformation is due to the 
results of organic life, and then to the subsequent effects 
of time, pressure and heat.* 

It is not necessary to suppose that the original size of 
all the planets was the same. The original size of Jupiter 
was, without doubt, the largest, and that of Mars possibly 
the smallest. But it is obvious that these bodies do all 
decrease in size from first to last, with age and the natural 
evolution of matter, even until the sun is reached. Though 



*The Nebular Hypothesis as advanced by La Place (see p. 517) 
accounts for the formation of the solar system by the theory of 
the process of Nebular Condensation. This theory cannot hold, 
for the reason, first, if the sun had given off the planets sever- 
ally in turn, why have not the outer members condensed as well 
as the sun and inner members? Secondly, why did not the same 
power of attraction which effected the sun's condensation, effect 
a corresponding simultaneous condensation of any and all matter 
in the solar system, and thus cause the matter of the planets 
to also settle towards the sun's center? The orbitular motion of 
the planets could not, in that case be greater than the rotary mo- 
tion of the sun's surface at the time the lesser body was thrown 
off. For the orbitular motion of the planet is, in that case, sup- 
posed to have been derived directly from the rotary motion of 
the sun. But the principle of perpetual motion of the heavenly 



52 INTKODUCTION 

there, the intense and repellant force of the sun's heat keeps 
the matter of that huge body much rarefied. As it is com- 
puted the sun's density is only 1.43. 

So much for the argument of size and density in prov- 
ing the theory. We shall now produce a very different and 
no less cogent phase of argument, in respect to the num- 
ber and order of satellites belonging to the various planets, 
as a means in the way of demonstrating the doctrine of solar 
consolidation. As the solar system is slowly contracting, 
so, likewise, are the several planetary systems; and as the 
planets are falling towards the sun, so the same law holds 
regarding the satellites, which are no less surely descending 
to their respective planets. Behold the manifest and tell- 
ing reason why the oldest bodies nearest to the sun are 
moonless ! Behold the why and wherefore that the remotest 
members, as a rule, have many satellites as yet revolving 
about them. 

It is an uncontroverted astronomic fact, long since 
proven by the power of telescopic observation (it being no 
hypothesis or supposition) that the planets as they recede 
from the great solar center have an almost uniform increase 

bodies is as preposterous as is the same law in the wheels of ma- 
chinery; the motion of the planets must be kept up by constant, 
external force. And, thirdly, how could it happen in the vagrious, 
sun-tossing sport, that the worlds were thrown off in such and 
regular order? Although the theory of the Nebular Hypothesis 
cannot be the true one, yet we must admire the unique and con- 
cinnate conception, and the originality of the mind which gave 
it birth. However, it is plain, when considered from a new point 
of view, that the same originating means which produced the 
original solar 'cloud,' must still continue in the production of 
new matter ; and the same all-comprehending force which effected 
the condensation of the primitive nebulae, must still continue to 
effect solar consolidation and the consequent contraction of the 
planetary orbits. 



THE SEVEN AGES 53 

in the number of moons revolving about them. Why is 
this ? Saturn, the third outside the earth, has eight moons. 
Jupiter, the second planet outside ours, has four moons. 
Mars, the first outside our planet, has two moons. It is 
needless to say the earth has only one moon; while Venus 
and Mercury, the planets between the earth and sun, have 
no nocturnal companions whatever.* Why is this? Why 
has a tree, late in autumn, less leaves than it had in mid- 
summer? The cause is very apparent. The leaves have 
fallen. So it is with the moons. The planets late in the 
year of their existence have their satellites all fallen down. 
Unfledged science mav lisp that the present condition of the 
solar universe is fixed and unchangeable, but we know it is 
not. It is forever changing. Evolution is the fixed and un- 
changeable law of all matter, and evolution implies con- 
stant and perpetual change. The present is only one pass- 
ing mode of condition in the perpetual and incessant change 
of all nature, matter, worlds. 

But the duration of cosmic time is so great that the 
progress of these transpirations are imperceptible to us. 
The age of man on the earth is of comparatively such a 
little time ; six thousand years are but a second of eternity, 
a swing of the cosmic pendulum ! The change is so small 
and the works of God so immense, that human obser- 
vation during a decade of only a few thousand years is not 
able to detect any permanent change in either the form 
nor magnitude of the solar fabric, while the more prying 

*It is probable that those extreme members of solar activity 
have more satellites than they receive credit for. On account of 
their extreme distance it is difficult to see those little bodies even 
with the best instruments. 



54 INTRODUCTION 

observation of instruments is in vogue not more than a 
few centuries. Indeed, the knowledge of the workings of 
the solar system, like that of almost every other depart- 
ment of science still in its infancy, has been for the most 
part a grand mystery to the naturalist and astronomer. 

The process of concentration and consolidation is the 
most important one which transpires with respect to the 
evolution of matter, after matter has once originated, and 
is the very factor of investigation which, above all, has re- 
ceived least attention. This argument of the disappearance 
of satellites proves conclusively that the planets are all by 
degrees descending to the sun, and that the older members 
are nearest the solar maelstrom. That the members with 
many satellites are the newest, largest, rarest and remotest 
from the sun, and vice versa, those near the common center 
are small, dense, old members whose moons have long since 
fallen, collapsed! 

Who will say the earth never had any moon but one? 
Will anyone say the beautiful planet Venus never had any 
satellite to lighten the sky of her night? Or that Saturn 
shall forever have eight moons to illuminate his nocturnal 
dome? Or will anyone declare that the sun and solar 
system never had any other planets, or never shall have any 
other than it now has ? Will anyone say, on seeing a great 
tamarind blooming in midsummer verdure, that those 
leaves are the only ones which that tree has ever had, or 
ever will have ? Like a great solar Tamarind, this convex 
system has had many planets (cosmic leaves or fruit) which 
during secular ages of the past have, one by one, convolved 
down to the sun and become annihilated. And likewise, 



THE SEVEN AGES 55 

during the future half of the sun's eternity (the duration 
of which cannot be reckoned) millions and billions of un- 
seen, unborn worlds shall wind their way down out of the 
labyrinths of solar immensity, and in turn be burnt up ! 
The surface of the sun, that fiery pool burning with brim- 
stone, is the solar incinerary where is consumed the rubbish 
of the solar system, and the common and dignified title of 
the place is Hell ! 

The perpetual process of creation and destruction is 
the one grand history of solar cosmogony. Matter comes to 
the sun in the form of planets and worlds, and departs in 
the form of heat and light. All the matter of the solar 
system is forever being thus transformed into radiation and 
sent back again into the vast convex of the solar depths, or 
farther. All matter begins in the form of water and ends 
in the form of fire. A planet originates in the form of a 
water sphere and ends in solar combustion by being de- 
voured on the sun. Thus the perpetual process of creation 
and destruction is the solution of the mystery of the uni- 
verse of matter. And the purpose of a planet's creation is 
that a new angel (for many spirits make an angel) be de- 
rived therefrom to finally take his place as a denizen in the 
solar Heaven. Neither is there any dwelling place in the 
whole universe of creation on which any being may live 
and dwell, except on spheres. Spheres, great spheres, celes- 
tial spheres, cosmic spheres, or whatever name we may call 
them by, are the only habitable places which there are or 
can be, for gods, angels or men. There is no place where 
any living being may dwell or subsist unless it be on, or in 
a cosmic sphere. All the rest is void; the void, the blank 
desolate element and 'graveyard' of universal death. And 



56 INTKODUCTION 

when a planet has completed the mission of its creation, the 
worthy souls thereon are taken into the Heaven; the rest, 
all the rest, matter, spirit, etc., is simply cast into the solar 
furnace and consumed. 

The sun's great globe grew to its present size from the 
aggregated deposition of fallen planets during the solar 
past, until its present volume is computed to be about equal 
to 1,300,000 globes the size of the earth. Eeckoning from 
this standpoint alone, it is evident that at least 1,300,000 
planets of average size are now compiled in the sun's mass. 
But when we know that by far the greater portion of solar 
matter thus amassed to the center has been radiated back 
again into space in the form of heat and light, and that 
the growth and accretion of the central body is simply and 
singly the result of the excess of this descended matter, then 
how shall we attempt to ascertain the approximate number 
of planets, of worlds that have been, which originated in 
the solar system and fell to the sun ? The figures must be 
enormous, if expressible at all, practically numberless. 

The same goes to show the number of Angels and 
spirit beings, created by reason of these banished worlds, 
is likewise numberless. But though large as the concave 
Heaven is, it could not contain numberless beings. Not- 
withstanding the amplitude of the Empyrean, it is never- 
theless insufficient to receive an infinite host. Hence, it is ob- 
vious that angels are, at times being fallen and cast out of 
Heaven and destroyed. Thus, again, is it conclusive that 
as the perpetual process of creation and destruction is the 
philosophy of material creation, so, likewise, is eternal birth 
and eternal death, creation and destruction in perpetualis. 



THE SEVEN AGES 57 

the grand law and history of angelic being* Not that any 
being is predoomed. JSTo one shall fall, can fall, but 
through the free agency and angelic prerogative of free 
will. The invisible universe stands on the free exercise of 
angelic free will. Should eternal beings cease to sin and 
fall and be overcome on high, the pageantry of visible cre- 
ation would in time cease to exist, perhaps, except the thin 
transparent textures of empyrean spheres — though the 
probability is that matter will never wholly become extinct, 
since as beings may fall, they will fall. 

But to return again from these metaphysical specula- 
tions back to the physical, the earth being neither the 
youngest nor the oldest of planets, has yet one moon left, 
one only, because her satellites are all fallen but one. Our 
planet has had many satellites in her day, and the periodic 
fall and collision of these little orbs of destiny correspond 
theogonically to the "Days of Creation" spoken of by Moses 
in the initial of the Lord's Book. Here is another mystery 
cleared up ! The Catalycisms of these moons were each and 
severally the beginning and ending of a Creative Day. 
The term 'day' as here used means a long period of time, 
a geological age in the progress of the earth's natural his- 
tory. St. Augustin, in the fourth century, called these 'in- 

*Eternal Being. This appelation applies to the Supreme and 
Angelic Being which has existed throughout eternity. But the 
epithet does not imply that all such Being has always existed, 
nor that all such shall always exist. It does mean that any and 
all perfect spirit Being, either in the form of angels, archangels, 
seraphim, paracletes, cherubim, may and shall exist forever, unless 
such responsible being sin and fall and are destroyed. Such being 
otherwise can and must live forever. Spirit being cannot die 
unless actually destroyed by Hell's fire. 



58 INTRODUCTION 

effable days, alterations of births and pauses in the work 
of the Almighty, boundaries of periods in the vast 
evolution of worlds/ Each day was in fact a world 
birth and a world death, giving rise to as many 
distinct and successive creations of animal and 
vegetable life. Each of the several cosmic con- 
vulsions probably destroyed and wiped out almost 
every vestige of life and being then existing on the 
face of the planet ; when the life of each 'day' was succeeded 
by a new and higher type of existence, each cosmogony be- 
ing the divine result of a special creative act; not a 'sur- 
vival of the fittest/ but an absolutely new created stock; 
each succeeding genera, fauna and flora being an improve- 
ment on its predecessor. 

Evidently the earth had six satellites. On the eve of the 
first Day the first and nearest moon fell. On the close of 
of the seventh great and greatest Day the earth will fall to 
the sun. The planet will approach the awful Center to such 
nearness that the energy of the sun's force will overwhelm 
and dissolve the planet. An Icarian-like disaster, as if 
the little world were wont to flee away in consternation 
from the nearness of the horror of Hell ! Then shall be veri- 
fied that which the prophet wrote,speaking of the earth's far 
distant future, that he saw in the favored vision : C A great 
ivhite throne from whose presence the earth and Heaven 
fled away and henceforth could not he found/ And then 
he said: 'And I saw the dead, great and small, standing 
before the throne, and the books were opened/ Yes, after 
time, cometh eternity ; after the world of man cometh the 
world of God. 



THE SEVEN AGES 59 

As a planet dissolves on its near approach to the sun, 
just so and for the same reason do the satellites dissolve 
when they descend to within a certain nearness to their 
primaries. The physical cause is the dismantling of the 
lesser bodies creative vortex, when the force of gravity 
which holds its matter together is hereby made to cease. 
Even now our moon has little or no vortex of her own, as 
is proven by the subsidence of her axiel motion. However, 
it will be i#any thousand years yet before the moon falls. 
This, then, will be the 'end of the world/ or the 'end of 
time/ so notably spoken of by the prophets. The 'end of 
time' simply means the end of propagation or reproduction 
of the race of man, for the precipitation of the shattered 
satellite will, at that time destroy our race. This, in 
quite the same manner as the fall of previous satellites, had 
wiped out the living organic 'worlds' then existing, and 
'evening and morning' will close the 'sixth day/ Then shall 
the dead rise on the morning of the great Sabbath, or the 
seventh great day. 

Now the question most prominently arises : When will 
the moon fall ? How long till the end of time ? How long, 
how long, till the day of wrath cometh ? Well, science can- 
not tell us this. Though science has told us many things 
and wonders, yet she has so far failed to relate to us the dis- 
tance of the end of time. We may, however, infer many 
things relating to this question from astronomical lore. We 
tnay infer that the moon will fall before the earth has 
reached the present orbit of her next neighbor, namely, the 
planet Venus. Venus is 66,000,000 miles from the sun, 
while we are, as yet, 91,500,000 miles away. The distance 
between the two orbits is 35,500 ; 000 miles, Somewhere 



60 INTKODTTCTION 

within the limits of this cosmic domain shall the moon 
'cease to give her light/ as the gospel fortells, and the earth 
will become a moonless planet. But as to this precise time, 
science stops short, or rather waits so as to allow her super- 
ior and older sister, the Divine Word, to step in and march 
in advance. 

The great prophecy tells us that the two witnesses 
(Moses and Elias) 'shall prophesy 1260 days' (xi 3). Also 
it says: They shall feed the woman (i. e., the woman 
clothed with the sun) 1260 days' (xii: 6). And at the end 
of time the seventh trumpet shall sound. Yes, when time 
the 'tomb-builder' has all the tombs built, and the graves of 
the earth must render back their borrowed dead! Now, 
the only question arises: What is the length of each of 
these 1260 days? Decipher that and we have it all in a 
nutshell. Well, here it is: the length of time required 
for each generation of our race, is thirty-three and one-third 
years. The length of the life of Christ, who is called 'The 
ancient of days' (Dan. vii: 13) is also thirty-three and a 
third years. This then will allow 1260 generations of our 
race to rise and fall between the first coming of our Lord 
and the end of time. One thousand two hundred and sixty 
multiplied by 33 1-3 years gives an aeonian product 
of 42,000 years. It is also foretold that the Beast shall 
'act forty-two months/ each of which months shall, we un- 
derstand, comprise a period of one thousand years. How- 
ever, we must somewhat retract by saying that in Daniel's 
prophecy, the stated time is one thousand two hundred and 
ninety days (xii;6). But evidently Daniel phophesied from 
the dedication of Solomon's temple, and which took place 
one thousand years before the birth of Christ. This great 



THE SEVEN AGES 61 

temple was the 'first house which was built to God on the 
earth/ and from which the date of the Tioly city* com- 
mences (see Daniel ix:24-27). This would allow 43,000 
years from the completion of the temple until the last end. 
It is noticeable that there are at least three discriptive days. 
First the calendar day, consisting of twelve hours; second 
the creative day, involving a grand period of 100,000 years; 
and thirdly, the genessial day, or the day of a generation, 
which obviously shows itself to consist of thirty-three and 
one-third years. This calculation, then, will establish the 
close of time at 42,000 years after the commencement of the 
Christian era. 'Then thick hail shall be cast upon them 
(the ungodly) from the stone-casting wrath: the waters of 
the sea shall rage against them, and the rivers shall run to- 
gether in a terrible manner.' (Wisdom v : 23.). 

As before explained, the moon will not precipitate bod- 
ily against the planet, for such a world collision might cause 
irreparable disaster, but in the form of calamitous and 
earth-shaking showers of meteors large and small; 'great 
hail/And the dreadful rock 'storm' will continue a consider- 
able length of time, commencing with the great earthouake, 
'when every mountain and the island shall be moved out of 
their places (Apoc. vi: 14).* Another of these cataclysms 
is described thus: 'And there was (in the vision) light- 

*It is a noted fact that Geologists are unanimous in admit- 
ting that the earth has, from time to time, undergone periodic 
ordeals and convulsions of the most extraordinary and subvert- 
ing character. Evidences of which are everywhere tracable in the 
general broken irregularity of the terrestrial crust; and in the 
various ages and formations of rocks and ledges, aqueous and 
igneous, stratified and unstratified, all thrown promiscuously to- 
gether at, or near, the surface; and in the presence of ores, er- 



62 INTKODTJCTION 

nings and voices and a great earthquake! 'And there were 
voices and lightnings and an earthquake and great haiV 
But the final shock shall be the severest. 'And there were 
lightnings and voices and thunders : and there was a great 
earthquake, such as never hath been seen since men were 
upon the earth: an earthquake so great, * * * And 
every island fled away, and the mountains were not found/ 
All these were prophetical visions of the future which the 
sacred writer had seen. 

In conclusion of this theme, it remains to be said that 
the terrestrial revulsion caused by the precipitation of the 
recent and last satellite, and which must have occured long 
before the creation of man, undoubtedly left the earth's 
crust in a fearful shape, so that the work of the elements 
during centuries was necessary in order to subdue and even 
the planet's surface after the wreck, to render it habitable. 
Behold, herein is solved, with many others, the mystery of 
the uprising of the present continents and the sinking of 
the ocean beds. Likewise, herein, is explained the prob- 
lem of the earth's protuberances, the upheaval of the 
mountains and the cause of their origin. 



rupted masses, fossiliferous remains; and especially in volcanoes, 
ranges and mountain phenomena. In all this, science positively 
asserts that something out of the ordinary course of nature has 
surely happened. But, up to this, it is a no less singular fact, 
that geology has failed to determine the secret which has led to 
such catastrophisms, 



ARTICLE V. 

The Origin of Man 

'And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth 
and breathed into his face the breath of life; and man 

became a living souV (Gen. ii: 7). 
On the question of the origin of our race, much indeed 
has been said and written, and much more might still be 
said without arriving at the core of facts. Also have vol- 
umes been filled with endless endeavor to explain the mys- 
tery of the 'Fall and Redemption/ Many claiming that the 
'Trees' of Life and Knowledge, etc., were some common 
species of the wooded forest and bearing such transcendent 
fruit in those days in the paradise of that ancient Eden 
as to be capable of conferring to the partaker thereof the 
blessing of life or the curse of death. Others regard those 
wonderful trees as of purely mythical origin, only symboliz- 
ing therein certain attributes of our race. Others mistrust 
the authenticity of the story altogether, disclaiming cre- 
dence likewise to the described origin of man, as given in 
tnose first chapters of the Pentateuch. They venture to 
prove that the great wall of China and the E^'^tian pyra- 
mids are anyhow more than 6,000 years old, and thus ante- 
date the biblical story of our origin. Still others find that 
the petrified remains of human giants testify that man was 
created in a primeval state more than a million years ago. 
Others again of the Praterist school imagine that although 
the biblical accounts be true, and that although our race 
has existed only 6,000 years, everything is nevertheless 



64 INTEODUCTION 

already quite accomplished, and every new rumor of war 
or report of a conflagration brings to them a portentious 
sign that the end of the world is at hand. And some very 
creditable naturalists, by the way, venture to show how we 
are the descendants of certain quite honorable and rational 
tribes of monkeys, which are said to still inhabit impervious 
African jungles, and who, for some worthy scruples, refuse 
to come forth and acknowledge their relationship to our 
racial mediocrity. They cleverly deny that we are in any 
way a 'survival of the fittest/ or the timely production of 
any mode of development process. Ne plus ultra! Thus 
the naturalist and the monkey are seemingly at war on the 
subject. And in weighing the argument, our conviction is 
that the monkey has the preponderance. Besides, the mon- 
key stands on the side of revelation's Word, which the aspir- 
ing scientist ignores, and will not condescend to accept as 
being worthy his notice. Here, again, the ancestral chim- 
panzee has the advantage over his untutored, anthropoidal 
descendant, and the monkey scores the naturalist. 

In looking over the field of science and of natural 
history, one finds nothing definitely pointing out nor show- 
ing the true time or manner regarding the creation of man. 
Science here, as almost everywhere else, whenever she un- 
dertakes to explain from natural cause and appearance, the 
deeper problems, or to furnish salutary conclusions respect- 
ing the abstruse mysteries of the origin and final end of 
things, she falls short. This is because of the crude and 
chaotic state of science, which has not as yet learned to 
blend and reconcile herself with the eternal, unfailing 
teachings of the omniscient Word. Hence, we must, as ever 
in the course of our research go back again and again to 



THE SEVEN AGES 65 

the old Book of the divine lores and wisdoms, or rather it 
should be the product of our humble labor to here again 
learn to combine and adjust the secular and divine. 

Our Eace begun and originated almost 6,000 years ago. 
The race then begun and continued to propagate for more 
than 1,600 years, when it was destroyed by the waters of a 
flood, after which it again commenced to propagate out of 
the new. Not until now, after a course of 2,300 years or 
more after the flood, the face of the planet begins to be more 
or less all populated. Yes, man originated nearly sixty cen- 
turies ago, but the creation of man will be consummated 
only at the end of time. Man is creating, not created. Just 
so with the world. The World shall be in all seven 'Days' 
creating. The World is not yet created, neither is the Eace 
of man. It will require, in all, a period of 46,000 years 
to consummate the creation of our yet infant race. Then 
will our full-fledged and new created progeny be regarded 
by the eternal powers as a Oneness, a single being; 'Man' 
created ! What little of this we behold, or is at any time 
visible, is but the ever present progress of the race unfold- 
ing itself. 

At the close of the recent lunar Cataclysm, and long 
before the origin of man, the opening of the sixth great Day 
dawned. Up to that time man had not existed on the face 
of the earth. Not only that, but the violence of the cosmic 
shock then annihilated, perhaps, all previous organic life off 
the earth. Besides, Scripture informs us that no cattle nor 
four-footed beasts were created until the sixth Day. During 
the earlier part of this, our great Day, the Lord God created 
all quadrupeds. This organic genera would most probably 



66 INTRODUCTION 

include all classes of quadrumana. That is, implying al- 
together all those species still extant or extinct; the mam- 
moth, the mastodon, the horse, the dog, the sheep, the cow, 
the ape, the baboon, etc. The organic world of the sixth 
Day was all begun during the forenoon, all completed by 
noon. The 'Days of Creation' are the ages and pages of a 
planet's natural history, and the number of moons indicate 
as many originations and extinctions of species; in the 
morning of each mystic 'Day" a series of species flash into 
existence, and in the evening they flash out. Such is the 
delphic lesson of the moons, and the mystery of the earth's 
seven ages. On the sixth day 'God made the beasts of the 
earth according to their kind, and cattle, and everything 
that creepeth on the earth after its kind* And then God 
created man. About the middle of the day, God created 
Adam. 'And God said let us make man to our own image 
and likeness/ 

But this work, like that of the cattle and quadrupeds, 
was, in itself, a 'special creative act' of the Almighty. 
Man was formed from the dust of the planet, directly by 
the hand of God, when God breathed into the man's nostrils 
the breath of life and he became a living soul. Man was 
at first formed, as the Scripture shows, both male and fe- 
male in the one being, an hypostatic formation (if we may 

*It is very probable that the force of the world-storm did 
not destroy the forms of acquatic life then, or before, existing. 

fEach and every special creation was not only a special cre- 
ative act in its origin, but such was, according to the earliest 
Scripture, a special and continuous creative act 'after its own 
kind' (Gen. i:12, 21, 24, 25). No evolution of species in this 
divine plan. Each species was divinely commanded to 'increase 
and multiply after its own kind.' 



THE SEVEN AGES 67 

so term it), until later on the Lord separated and resolved 
him into two beings, according to the organic duplexity of 
male and female. {For a full explanation on these ques- 
tions see main part of the look, p. 212.) It will require the 
entire 'afternoon' of the sixth day of creation's week to 
complete the great work begun in the 'forenoon.' Then 
shall be fulfilled the traditional account of evening and 
morning, being the sixth day. Then shall follow the sev- 
enth day, the great Sabbath, commonly called the Millen- 
ium. Such is, indeed, both the biblical and rational 
account of the Origin of man. 



AETICLE VI. 
The Fall of Man 

A 'Paradise of pleasure' was created at the birth-place 
of man. This Paradise was created and kept by the hand 
of God, or rather by the hand of his Angels, who had form- 
ed and created man, and dwelt in the Eden. They formed 
man at first and then reformed him into two distinct be- 
ings. And they all dwelt in the Eden. Now, the Paradise, 
or the Eden, was a small spot of earth supposed to have been 
located somewhere in the western part of Asia. It was 
small at first, for then the population of the globe was 
small, probably not more than four — two of angels and 
two of man. Now, it was also commanded them that they 
should 'increase and multiply/ though not after their own 
kind. There were at this time planted in that most beau- 
tiful Garden c all manner of trees fair to behold: the tree of 
life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowl- 
edge of good and evil/ 

It was at that time commanded of our first parents 
that they should not eat of the 'Tree of knowledge/ and 
that they should eat of the 'Tree of Life. If they ate of the 
Tree of Knowledge it was assured them they would die. If 
they partook of the Tree of Life they would live forever and 
be translated into Heaven at the end of a certain time with- 
out the penalty of death. These, were certainly an extraor- 
dinary character of 'Tree/ to have power to confer such 
qualities and properties on the participant. There is cer- 






THE SEVEN AGES 69 

tainly no tree that grows in the forest, nor in the vegetable 
kingdom, like to these. 

Now this is the Exegesis of the wonderful dilemma. 
These were symbolical 'Trees/ indeed a figurative species. 
This we know from the reason that they could not be any 
other kind. They could not be otherwise than supernat- 
ural in order to confer such attributes. They cannot be 
trees of the vegetable character. ISTo natural fruit could 
make our bodies immortal or save us forever from death, 
nor could any vegetable quality bestow on the participant 
the knowledge of good and evil. Besides there are many 
other symbolical terms used in the Bible, such as beast, har- 
lot, candlestick, days, lamb, rock, lamps, etc. The parables 
are all aglow with tropes and epithets, and the prophecies 
are everywhere incandescent with luminous figures. 

The Tree of life, and of which Adam and Eve were 
commanded to 'eat' was the angels of the race of God, and 
which also dwelt in the Paradise. But the Tree of knowl- 
edge which our first parents were forbidden to 'eat' of was 
the human race, the beginning of which likewise dwelt in 
the Eden. The Lord commanded them to partake of the 
celestial Tree, whereby they might bring forth a race of 
superior beings, half human and half divine, in a manner 
not unlike to that of Christ himself, who was born of a vir- 
gin and an angel.* But the great Serpent countermanded 
the will of God by desiring and requesting Adam and Eve 

*Such superior men would be the same as was the Messiah 
up to the time of his baptism. But then, at that time, the entire 
God-spirit-being entered into Christ, making him the first angel 
incarnate; that is, the first incarnation from the seven Spirits 
of God. 



?0 INTRODUCTION" 

to produce from the Tree of knowledge, and thereby bring 
forth a race of mortals, purely human beings, good and evil, 
so that he, the serpent, might become possessor of a share 
therein, and possess the evil portion; for he knew if they 
sprung from the Tree of Life that he would then have no 
share whatever, as there would be no evil in that species of 
a race. 

Consequently, the 'old serpent' set to work, using his 
utmost efforts of seduction and persuasion, and by numer- 
ous insinuations and lies endeavored to persuade this inex- 
perienced and simple couple that the commands and warn- 
ings of their Creator were unjust and false, till he finally 
succeeded in convincing fair Eve that they would not die 
the death, the threatened death, if they brought forth con- 
trary to the will of God, but that instead they would become 
as gods, knowing good and evil. He persuaded them in the 
same manner as he now persuades men that there is no God. 
The whole matter was left to the absolute Freewill of 
the first man and woman, till the woman, who was the first 
to be overcome by the wiles of the wicked one, consented to 
obey the counsel of Satan and disobey the will of God ; when 
she and the serpent together persuaded and overcame the 
man and they both transgressed. Alas ! 'Caesar has crossed 
the Eubicon, et jucta est aleal' 

Now has Satan succeeded in setting up woman as the 
goddess of the race and planet, and man the 'god' thereof ; 
and he himself the triumphant Demiurge of the adoring 
Beast. Now, verily, this was the DeviPs right, his God-given 
right and privilege, and therefore, his just right, to thus 
seduce the Protoplast of a new race, if he could, and finally 



THE SEVEN AGES ft 

to take with him his apportioned share. If Providence had 
ordained and decreed that those Angels were to produce a 
race of themselves, incapable of seduction, then the Arch- 
outcast of heaven would be deprived of his inherited right. 
Besides, it is doubtful if the angels could produce of them- 
selves, because of the total absence of animal nature. It 
is even doubtful if they could become incarnated without 
first having connection with the human, or, otherwise, be 
born or reborn from the human. Otherwise there would 
be no need to create planets at all, if generations could be 
produced in heaven. But, no, this, the organic part of crea- 
tion's functional work must all be done outside the walls 
of the Empyrean. 

Evidently the theory not only clears up the mystery 
of the Fall and Eedemption, but it also shows the deviPs 
position in the ranks of creation and being, that he is justly 
a privileged character of limited extent, and an evil Demi- 
urge, or in a manner a fallen and evil creator ! Likewise 
it clears up and shows to mankind his true situation with 
relation to God and nature, and which he never wholly 
knew before. The theory gives fully the latitude and lon- 
gitude of all these things. The God of all mercy granted 
to the Devil this privilege in order to assuage and mitigate 
the dreadf ulness of his doom ; and as a consequence we are 
all born heirs to the fallen god, and so remain until wq 
renounce allegiance to the infernal kingdom, and, through 
Christ, become espoused to the kingdom of life. 

But to return again to the subject ; they at once became 
ashamed of their naked condition, and sewed leaves togeth- 
er to make themselves aprons. Now why were they not 



?2 INTRODUCTION" 

ashamed of their mouths if they had literally eaten of the 
forbidden fruit, or of their hands if it were these members 
which had transgressed ? No, but the parts which were the 
instruments of violation became the organs of shame for- 
ever! And when the angel accosted them that afternoon 
they offered excuses ; Eve blaming the serpent for her mis- 
fortune and Adam laying blame to the woman, 
and the Lord pronounced on them the inevitable 
imprecations, which, as a result, were sure to 
folllow the sin and disobedience of their trans- 
gression and elopement. Their posterity was to be 
the sure and unhappy product of their sin, and was like- 
wise doomed to share the judgment of sin and shame and 
misery and death. Being a race of mortals, what else could 
they expect ? Nothing celestial in them, nothing divine in 
them, nothing but human, animal nature, their fate was 
to be like that of the beasts of the field. Their first born 
was a murderer. They are turned out of Eden forever, and 
at the end of a little time they must return to the dust of 
out of which they were formed, and all mankind with thejn 
(see Ps. 213, etc.). 

Such is, indeed, the grave situation, immutable, enig- 
matical, paradoxical ! Such is the foundation of our race, 
and such the foundation which might have been. Nay, was 
not the information given us from heaven through the 
prophet Moses, to acquaint us how our race begun? Cer- 
tainly. The Lord never intended that we should be ignor- 
ant of such an important truth. All things are foreshown 
to us, all important things are made known to us through 
the columns of the inspired text, only to discover them. 
Such is indeed the stock from which we sprung. Nor 



THE SEVEN AGES U 

is it for us to complain, but to make the best we can of a 
fallen lot; nor does it behoove us to lament, for lamenta- 
tions are anyhow vain. The constitution of the world is 
unalterably fixed till the end of time. Maybe the ordina- 
tion and destiny is in some way for the best, or not all for 
the worst. There is a hopeful side to all things. 
'There is never a cloud so black but has a silver 
lining/ we are unable to comprehend the profound- 
est ways of God, the inexplicable depth of Providence. 
This loving, hating generation, this laughing crying, 
praying sighing, hoping sinning, helpless, afflicted, turbu- 
lent, mortal world of ours may not be for the worst. Have 
mercy on us, Lord, we are still the work of Thy hand, 
amid the echoings of the realms of time. We are still thy 
children, Adam, erring man, nor shall we revile thy heavy 
heart, thy repentant soul; and frail, wayward Eve, where 
e'er thy spirit rests, thou art still our ancient mother. But 
now this big round planet shall brood and nourish on its 
broad, chaotic bosom a race of fallen mortals, and heaven's 
sun shall ever rise and set on naught else but a race of 
doomed mortals, unless by heaven's help, by heaven's 
mercy there be something done ! * 

*Originists may remonstrate, that it cannot be the part of 
eternal Justice to thus impose the guilt of the Parents on the 
irresponsible, unconscious Offspring. The argument for the 
opposite side of the question would be, at least, in part, as fol- 
lows: The offspring is the essential product of the parents and 
of the parents will, and there can be no quality nor property in 
the product but that which exists or existed in the oiginal fac- 
tors. In the psychology of begitting, it is true that it is no less 
the will of the offspring (though unconscious) to be begotton, 
than it is the will of the parents to beget. The will of the one 
is the will of the other. If it were the will of our first Parents 
to produce a fallen race, it is no less the will of that race that it 



ARTICLE VII. 

The Redemption 

'Now, therefore, lest perhaps Adam put forth his hand] 
and tahe also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for- 
ever/ (Genesis iii : 22.) 
'If any man eat of this tread, he shall have life forever: 
and the bread which I will give is my flesh for the life 

of the world/ (John vi: 52.) 

The 'Tree of Life' in the Old Testament became the 

'Bread of Life' in the New Testament. 'He that eateth 

this bread shall live forever (John vii:58). And since we 

failed of divine extraction in the beginning, we must of 

may exist. No being is ever conceived against his own will. If 
the individual enjoyed the exercise of free will at his conception, 
he would have exercised it exactly as did his parents; in fact, he 
was the very cause and spark which prompted the act of his own 
conception, the desire existed in the embryo, even as it did in 
the parents. The offspring is, indeed, a real and virtual part of 
the parents; the whole human family, from the beginning to the 
end of time, is but the timely, evolutionary fulfillment of the 
original Pair. The blood which coursed through their veins has 
become the sanguine fluid which nourisheth the whole race. In 
this the function of Individuality cuts no separate figure. But 
the individual may, nevertheless, make himself celestial if he will, 
and cause himself to rise above the mediocre of his birth, and 
that by the voluntary and divine rebirth. This is the privilege 
of celestial ascendancy, the granted, God-given prerogative of the 
individual, the conscious and voluntary act of the offspring. 
Though originated solely of the Tree of Knowledge, the individual 
may thus rise above his derivation and save himself by partaking 
of the Tree of Life. However, all must suffer the penalty of the 
proscribed 'death,' the virtue of the Rebirth not attesting itself 
in the physical corporation until the new body is resurrected. 



THE SEVEN AGES 75 

frail necessity be born over again. No one can be saved 
who remains purely human, wholly mortal. In this state 
we fall a sure and easy prey to the evil One. We of ignoble 
derivation, are too gross, too sensual, too animal, if not 
ingrafted by the divine nature, to be ever able to ascend. 
Hence, unless we are redeemed, unless we avail ourselves 
of the fruits of the Eedemption, we cannot be saved. Not 
one can be saved unless redeemed. We must be lifted up 
by partaking of the divine nature from above. By laying 
the above two quotations of Holy Scripture side by side, 
we see that the Tree of Life' and the 'Bread of Life' hath 
the same significance, picture and power over mortal death. 
Because of the original error, we must indeed be 'born again 
not of the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God/ 
'Amen , I say unless you be born again of water and the 
Holy Ghost ye cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven/ Those 
who are born again constitute the Church, whille those who 
will refuse to be born again shall constitute the Beast. There 
are only two, namely : the Church and the Beast. The first 
because they will eat of the Bread of life shall rise up glor- 
ified on the last day. The rest shall not rise up glorified 
because there will be nothing glorified in them. They will 
not be redeemed. They will refeuse to share in the Redemp- 
tion. 

If a man were seen walking up and down the streets 
through the town swaying his arms with emphasis and cry- 
ing : 'Hear ye people, you must be all born again ! You 
must be all born over again or you cannot see everlasting 
life V If such a thing should happen, 'Why/ they would say 
'that man is crazy ; arrest him ; he is a nuisance V Well, so 
it is ever with the world. However, the man would not be 



76 INTRODUCTION 

crazy ; he would only be inspired to preach God Almighty's 
truth. No truer words ever fell from the lips of man. No 
benefactor ever gave wiser alarm to his fellow-man. For 
the God of the earth himself has told us in plain language : 
' Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, 
he cannot see the Kingdom of God!' (John iii : 3) . Well, if 
our origin and birth at first were according to the divine 
will, there would be no need that we be born again. Orig- 
inally, we are purely animal, there is nothing divine in us. 
The human should have been engrafted into the divine Tree 
at the beginning, but since that failed to have been done, 
it is now, happily, incumbent on us to engraft the Divine 
into the human. We must propagate from the two-fold 
extraction of gods and men. 

However fair we are mortal; however brave we are 
bestial; however wise we are not celestial; however great 
we are not divine ; however loving we are sinners ; however 
strong, however fearfully and wonderfully made, we are 
subjects of death and corruption. Indeed, unless we receive 
of the divine nature in us we are empty creations of noth- 
ing worth; nor worthy or fit to join with God or angels 
because of the baseness of our nature and origin. First, 
we must be divinely recreated, then must good works follow. 
Then let the strong lift up the weak, and let the rich di- 
vide with the poor; yes, now, while yet there is light 
and day, for soon the night of death comes on, when we can 
work no more. 

The Church of Christ is presided over by the 144,000 
vestal Knights or pillars of the Church, mentioned in Apoc. 
xiv:l-5. Their number is found by multiplying the num- 



THE SEVEN AGES 77 

ber of the twelve Patriarchs by that of the twelve Apostles, 
and that product by 1,000 gennesial 'days'; into whose 
hands is given the 'continual sacrifice' of the real presence 
of the Body and Blood to bestow on all whomsoever will re- 
ceive during the thousand days. Then the 'continual sac- 
rifice shall be taken away/ when the 'abomination unto des- 
olation shall be set up/ After the expiation and atone- 
ment of a God suffering in the human, we mortals must be 
baptized and become divinely initiated in the name of the 
Spirit of that God, which was denied in the rivalship 
of the 'Fall/ and we must eat of the bread of the 
Tree of Life, which was rejected at the time of the 'Fall/ 

The grand function of the Eedemption was to restore 
the Tree of Life. The blood of Jesus alone hath power to 
ransom sinners. This bread alone hath power to confer im- 
mortality on mortals, and to bestow celestial nobility and 
seraphic dignity on the children of fallen man. We shall 
be saved by bearing in all things the light burden of the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ, and by carrying the sweet yoke of 
His Church ; and by good works here build a home in an- 
other sphere. He that believe in Christ shall be saved, but 
he that believe in Christ will keep His commandments. 'He 
that loveth me/ said the Savior, 'will keep my command- 
ments/ We cannot believe the one and deny the other. 
And His Church is the perpetual and only divine institution 
on the face of the planet, the boon of salvation, the perpet- 
ual Eock which the thunders of hell cannot shake, es- 
tablished as the sole medium of redemption by regenera- 
tion, or rebirth. The Church is the divine mother of all 
'who are born again.' She is the triumphant lady 'clothed 



78 INTRODUCTION 

with the sun/ a young tree of life, and commencing with 
the immaculate Mary, our second Eve, our faithful Eve. 
For further discussion on the question of the orthodox 
Church see pp. 269 and 329, etc.) 

It is very discernable from several passages of the 
Scriptures that one-third of our race shall be regenerated 
and redeemed, and whose names shall be written in the 
'book of life/ But in order that this proportion be saved, 
the Church will be obliged to much increase the number of 
her fold between now and the time of the reign of King 
Antichrist. Probably not much less than one-half the 
entire population of the globe must necessarily be included, 
on an average during the aeon of the Christian era, until the 
day when the abomination of desolation will make all 
(holy) things desolate, when the Son of perdition will 
triumph over the whole earth.* 

Conversely, it is equally plain that two-thirds of our 
unfortunate race will refuse the fruits of the Redemption, 
and deny the bread of divinity. Which adverse and unre- 
deemed major fraction of the world is spiritually called the 
'Beast/ the Beast of Revelation. Their wild unsanctified 
spirits shall hereafter perish in a manner even as the spirits 
of the beasts of the field, f The conjointed, unified form 

*It will be understood that the Redemption of those who lived 
before the Christian era, and, of course, others, shall be procras- 
tinated until after the resurrection. Possibly all shall be given 
a second trial and chance. 

|The life, or spirits of the animal kingdom below the age of 
man are all, after long periods of time, destroyed in the form 
of lightning after death. (For a full discussion on this subject 
see TheoryX, page 51.) That the phenomenon of lightning is due 
to the explosion and combustion of animal spirits in the firma- 
ment by aria} friction caused by the force of cosmic pressure, is 



THE SEVEN AGES 79 

of which theogonical being shall be that of a prodigious 
serpent, even like that of its father and spiritual sire, the 
dragon, the 'old serpent/ As the Church shall possess an 
upright, angelic formation, as designated in the lady of 
the sun, so the incorrigible Beast shall produce a prone, ser- 
pentine formation (for sin will make him prone) and de- 
scribed as having 'seven heads and ten horns/ 

Now, the first 'Head' of this fearful creation was cut 
off by the Noachian deluge. At the time of Christ, five 
of the heads were fallen, 'one is/ which was the Koman 
Empire; and one was 'yet to come/ the Occident. The 
seventh head is in the Western Hemisphere, which is des- 
tined in time to rule the whole world. Then the ten Horns 
shall begin to grow on this cosmopolitan head, and their 
dynasties shall rule the world till the end of time, when the 
calamity of the falling satellite shall close the era of their 
reign. The 'ten Horns' shall, in united and resurrected cos- 
mogony, constitute the enormous 'trunk' of the wonderful 
beast serpent.* (See illustration, p. 402.) The souls of 

explained and proven by the fact, that the flash of explosion is in 
the form of a line, or a streak. The action of a mere electric ex- 
plosion would be in all directions from one point, like that of a 
charge of dynamite. (Mere electric fluid or heat element goes 
from the clouds in the peaceful manner of radiation, not explo- 
sion.) But the tenacity of the spirit, or living 'volt/ causes the 
meandering charge to more or less cling together for the instant, 
and go in one direction; a spirit being burning in the course 
of transit. Electric fluid will not follow a line unless led by a 
conductor, no more than will the fire of a common blast. On 
this question of animal spirits enduring after death, consult, 
Ecclestiastes iii : 21 and Esdras vi: 49-52. 

*The prophetical transition from the seventh Head of nations 
to the ten Horns thereof, or even the constitutional revolution 
already imminent in the seventh 'Mars' itself, is a difficult prop- 
osition to determine, at present, from any available data, except 



80 INTKODTTCTION 

this cosmic Giant goeth, with their fallen angels, into the, 
Sea and into the bottomless Pit, from which sequestered 
resting places they shall usher forth again at the resurrec- 
tion. 

Our race is destined to build life and being for two 
Kingdoms, the kingdom of Light and the kingdom of Dark- 
ness, and the creating world must needs hasten and race and 
pace and toil during yet 40,000 years, ere the measure 
of the two kingdoms be fulfilled. We are practically still 
at the beginning of time. At this, our age of the world, all 
that dwell on the face of the earth are but a handful to 
those that sleep in its bosom ; yet the living and the dead to- 
gether are but a handful to the number who are yet to be. 
Yes, Egypt dead is greater than the Orient living; but 
Egypt yet unborn is mightier than all the nations born ; for 
the progeny of progenies is yet to come. This mystic term 
'Time' signifies the aeon of the birth and death of our pro- 
creating race, the era of begetting and burying, aye, too, 
and the resurrection of the dead, and all this work must be 
finished when the Seventh Trumpet sounds ! 



that there will be new forms and new discoveries of government, 
such as will supercede any devise of state or statute heretofore 
framed on the planet. Possibly the latter change will introduce 
itself in some form of Socialism. Without dilating on the sub- 
ject here, there can be little doubt that the auspices of the ten 
'Horns' of the world shall be a fixed decumvirate of Mammonian 
or Bonanzan imperialism. But the famous Eighth Head shall 
surely usher in a most radical regime of Socialism, such as even 
to abolish all supremacy of Bank, Church and State. But this 
era cannot come until after the 'Battle of Heaven/ or thousands 
of years to come. 



THE SEVEN AGES 

Embracing 

A New Development of Science and Theology 

The foregoing Articles of this Pamphlet are mere in- 
troductory Extracts from a work recently written and pub- 
lished and entitled "The Seven Ages." The full title of 
which book is, "The Seven Ages of Creation, or Cosmos 
and the Mysteries Expounded." The title of the work 
very clearly expresses its character, and shows how the 
evolution of all matter consists of a seven-fold series of 
progression. 

The first stage, or phase of material existence, as pre- 
viously shown, exists in the 'Age' or condition of infinite 
Space. The second stage thereof consists in the Age of 
Water. The third stage of material existence is manifest 
in the great organic or Life Age. The fourth stage of Cre- 
ation is seen in the solid form of great Spheres, or what 
is termed the Plutonic Age. The fifth Age of the book 
shows that all matter is again resolving itself into the ele- 
ment of Heat at the interior region of all great Spheres. 
The sixth Age shows that the element of Light always at 
first originates from the destruction of universal fallen 
spirits on the universal suns. The Seventh and last Age 
treats of the nature and derivation of all living spirit and 
Universal Being. Then the second half, or 



82 INTRODUCTION 

PAET II. 

of the work treats of the Apocalypse and Eevelations of the 
Scriptures Expounded; or, in other words, it explains the 
Mysteries of Theology ! The last book of the New Testa- 
ment, and which was written at the beginning of the Chris- 
tian Era by St. John the Divine, on the island of Patmos, 
while under banishment by decree of the cruel 
Emperor Domitian, might well be called the 'Book of 
Mysteries/ The many commentaries which have appeared 
during these centuries on the Apocalypse are truly said to 
be 'unnumbered if not numberless f after all, leaving the 
mystic volume remaining almost still in its primeval state 
of obscurity, practically a 'sealed book/ Now, for the first 
time has the writer taken up the subject, registering and 
treating each chapter severally in a running commentary, 
and from an entirely new standpoint and evolving an en- 
eirely new line of thought. He finds that the work of ter- 
restrial Creation is the production of seven Arch-angels 
of the Sun. Hence, also, the title of his book. In all 
things is the earth a seven-fold production. He finds that 
the Divine Testimony plainly shows where the human soul 
goes after death ; how the resurrection shall take place ; how 
the second coming of Christ shall be. How Antichrist shall 
overthrow the Church at the end of one Thousand great 
Days, and set up the 'Abomination of Desolation/ 

How there will be three Eesurrections of the dead. 
Explaining the Constitution of the resurrected being, whom 
naught less than the 'two-edged sword' can kill. How the 
Devil shall take a third part of the whole race ; how Satan 
shall take a third ; and how the Lamb of God shall possess 



THE SEVEN AGES 83 

but a third part. Explaining the mystery of the incarnation 
of the 'God of the earth/ Who King Antichrist shall be. 
The Reveries of the Beasts of the Sea and of the Pit. Pro- 
ducing several new and unfailing Evidences of the true 
Faith. The Orgies of the risen dead in Babylon of the 
prophecy. How the solar Serpent shall be captured and 
bound in the nether abyss. The myriadic number of the 
Dragon. These wonders are all explained in this book, the 
heretofore unwritten pages of human wisdom, such as con- 
founded sages and scientists since the world began. The 
Prodigies of the falling Moon. The Marvels of the Celes- 
tial Trumpets. The Conflagrations of the doomed City. 
The final War of Wars. The teratical number six hundred 
and sixty-six explained. This is only a brief synopsis of 
the discoveries of this phenomenal book. Herein is ex- 
plained the character of being inhabiting the other planets. 
The marriage of the Angels of the Lamb to the first Resur- 
rection of men during the Millenium. The City of new 
Jerusalem interpreted. And then the final dissolution and 
extinction of our dear, beloved Planet before the awful 
presence of the 'Great White Throne* ! ! ! 

The Book of the Secrets expounded ! Some said this 
could not be done: somebody's opinion! The Scripture 
makes no such assertion ; such is only a religious supersti- 
tion. Nothing could be more absurd than that an intelli- 
gent Creator should bestow an important message to his 
reasonable Creatures, with the implication that the same 
should never be understood. And though many things re- 
main to be yet explained, the Apocalypse or Revelation is 
no longer a sealed book. Practically open now, so Tie that 



84 INTRODUCTION" 

runs may read' this book of wonder and woe; Creation's 
cardinal Song! 

'Adding nothing or nothing extenuating/ the writer 
once for all, accepts the 'seamless garment' of the Divine 
Word whole and entire; and defines Eevelation as, God- 
given testimony, or that manifestation which comes from 
above and beyond all that which we of ourselves can hear 
and see. It is the voice of Eternity made audible to man. 
He unhesitatingly confesses the triune functional Factors 
of theologic worship, namely : Eevelation, revelation's God 
and revelation's Church; and then proceeds to prove and 
substantiate the same on a systematic basis from Science 
and Scripture interwoven into one. Obviously, the dis- 
covery of the solar Heaven is the keystone of gnostic incep- 
tion, and first step towards devolving an Apocalypse. When 
the Heaven and Hell are found, the ice is broke in the way 
of delving. These are, as it were, the Castor and Pollux 
of vaticination. Hereby, only, are the true variations es- 
tablished for reaching into the true understanding and real 
depth of things. Behold, in these, the twin, sun-lit Peaks 
of science and theology's remotest poles, like antipodal col- 
umns of gold, piercing the skies of knowledge. Aye, whose 
summits reach to the sun, for heaven and hell are only dif- 
ferent aspects of the one Thesis pointing unto the Solar; 
'tis, lo, the Eclipse of Theo-science budding in the crescent ! 

Yet, in all this the writer has no pretentions to super- 
natural agency or illumination; nor anything other than 
mere insight and deductions from common reason. The 
angel showed all these things to the prophet, he claims; 
'tis ours only to interpret them. He holds that Hell is not 



THE SEVEN AGES 85 

a place of endless punishment, but an universal crematory 
for all sin and corruption, and a place of annihilation at 
the end of a certain time. And that the suffering of a 
spirit being is not at all to be compared to that of living 
human flesh in fire. The intensest heat is capable of caus- 
ing only comparatively moderate pain and wear in the 
spirit subject. Hence, almost interminable ranges of time 
are required in order to effect an utter extinction, in the 
'second death' (Rev. xx-xxi). This will help to remove the 
unmerciful, gruesome idea of unending torture, etc., so re- 
volting to most people's minds. 

We are all aware that the various departments of 
Science and Scripture, up to this day, have remained, more 
or less, in a dissonant, estranged and rather crude state. 
Many things suggested and asserted with but few things 
clearly or satisfactorily shown, leaving the thinking mind 
filled with doubts and prejudices. Doubts against unproven 
theories and doctrines, and prejudices against unseem- 
ing tenets and creeds. The proposed object of the writer, 
here, is, not to abolish, but to clear up and explain, and to 
interharmonize the heretofore apparently opposing princi- 
ples of the secular and sacred knowledges, resolving and 
compounding the same into a newly and more thoroughly 
developed System. The fruitful prospects of which effort 
will be, it is hoped, to effect a move towards the proselyt- 
ing and conversion of Christiandom into one Church; all 
Israel (Jew and Gentile) into one Fold. 

During the Autumn of 1898 a small trial edition was 
edited for the express purpose of obtaining critical advice 
and opinion. These embryo volumes were sent abroad to 



86 INTKODUCTION 

educators and divines. Members of the Bench, Bar and 
Pulpit of various denominations, and Kepresentatives of 
science and literature responded. Not only was no word 
of demur raised, but on the other hand flattering commen- 
dations were everywhere enunciated. Some urged that the 
work needed to be revised and the expression somewhat 
simplified to accommodate the reading masses. During the 
following years the work has been thoroughly overhauled 
and rewritten, adding much explanatory matter and also 
some new and additional theories. Until now, in the field 
of scientific and doctrinal Exegetics, this book has no par- 
allel. On all subjects of Physics and Metaphysics, History 
and Mystery, here is a peerless relief from the quagmire 
of misunderstanding and the nightmare of uncertainty. 
For, here, the long sought and eagerly coveted Why and 
Wherefore of things obtain, and the great and inexplicable 
problems which so long vexed the world's brain are here 
laid open and bare ! 

The work was written in Iowa, revised in Colorado, 
and published in San Francisco. The writer being in a 
state of precarious health at times, during the protracted 
siege of his many years' labor, was forced to seek changes 
of climate, and finally was induced to come to the coast. 

A large volume of 567 pages, much condensed, gilt 
top, and bound in full silk. An ample Appendix, copious 
footnotes with definitions of difficult terms. Eubricated; 
Illustrated and Annotated; Embossed in silver and gold; 
Price, net, reduced to $2.25 

Sent to any address on receipt of price. 



THE SEVEN AGES 87 

Also the foregoing pamphlet will be mailed to any ad- 
dress for 25 cents 

Remit by Express Postal Money Order, Registered Letter or Drafts 
on San Francisco, or Chicago. Do not send Personal Checks nor Postal 
Stamps. 

RUSSELL'S WORKS 

Sold 

at 

123 Seventh Street 

and by Book Dealers in general. 

When ordering by Mail Address 

EAGLE PUBLISHING CO. 
San Francisco, California. 




66,131/478 VENUS 
I3.C 00,000 VULCAN 



L.ofC. 



THE SOLAR SYSTEM 
Showing the Sun, Planets and Moons 




COMPARATIVE SIZE OF SUN AND PLANETS. 
The large circle represents the Sun. The small dark bodies 
within represent the Planets. J. Jupiter, S. Saturn, U. Urannus, 
N. Neptune, My. Mercury, V. Venus, E. Earth, Ms. Mars. How- 
ever, the proportionate size of the planets here given is somewhat 
larger than the reality. The Sun's diameter is 866,000 miles. 
The earth's diameter is 7,925. 



W§2 



